Q/A Friday: 5 Social Media Faux Pas to Stop Making NOW!

Q: Every once in a while, I see things on social media sites that make me go, "Huh?!?!" What things might I be doing on social media that make me seem out of touch?

A: Brilliant question! Just like the "Update your Digital Appearance" post from a few weeks ago, there are definitely things that I see frequently on social sites that make the poster seem, well, a little behind. Here are five things you should stop doing immediately!

1. Liking your own status
This goes double for business pages!

2. Responding to something without using the Comments section
Admittedly, these are some of my favorite faux pas to see because I get to guess what exactly they're talking about.

"It" could be anything! And who are you talking to?

If you're responding to something someone wrote to you, be sure to use the "Write a comment" box underneath the post and not the "What's on your mind box," which makes a completely new wall post:

3. Posting pictures sideways
Please don't make your friends suffer Taco-Neck symptoms because you didn't rotate your pictures! This is an easy fix to make. Simply click on the offending photo and hover your mouse until you see "Options". Click on "Options," then use the "Rotate Left" or "Rotate Right" button to fix the orientation.

4. Copy/Paste Statuses
This includes two different types of statuses:

1. Copy and paste this treatise for an hour if you're not a dirtbag! -Coleen from the Tech Support for Real Estate Agents Facebook group
2. Copy and paste this status to protect yourself from a major Facebook change that they're not telling you about!

This rule holds especially true when they are related to Facebook changes. 90% of the time, the information contained in the copy/paste is false or misleading. Mashable is an excellent source to verify whether there is any truth to these viral statuses. For example, they debunked the recent "Publicly Traded Entity and Privacy" status:

Keep in mind that when you post something to a site like Facebook, regardless of your privacy settings, it immediately becomes (potentially) public. Remember to use common sense in the things that you post!

5. Posting only about real estate
I'm not necessarily talking about listings/open houses only... this also includes making posts that *only* relate to real estate/home improvement. We're connected on Facebook to make a connection, which means you should share a little about what makes you tick. We don't need all the gory, personal details... just enough to get a feel for your personality.

So, what awkward things do you see on social media sites? Share with us in the comments!


Special thanks to the incredible Tech Support for Real Estate Agents Facebook group for adding their invaluable insight to this post!