The Spread

By Cassidy Williams 

Facebook and Twitter are a great way to stay connected with friends, express yourself, and network.  They’re also a great way to ‘stalk’ your friends and enemies.  We all do it, and we can’t help but to allow our stalking to affect our judgment.

For example, if a guy adds me on Facebook, and he has posted 20 shirtless mirror pics, I am judging.

When others stalk you, you want them to come away with a positive image of yourself.  Your online self should reflect who you are in real life. You also don’t want to annoy all your friends.  There are a couple of main mistakes people make online that can damage their image.  If your followers are dwindling or people aren’t accepting your friend requests, you’re probably committing one of the following online offenses:

1. There is no need to post anything about drugs or alcohol. None. We’ve all been warned about this a million times by teachers and parents, but some people just don’t seem to get it. It’s the fastest way to lose respect.

2. Nothing is more annoying than when a girl posts a picture with the caption “OMG! I’m so ugly” or something of the like. You would have never posted it if you truly thought you looked bad. We also all know that you probably took 40 selfies before settling on that one. Please do us all a favor and keep our newsfeeds free of compliment fishing.

3. If you tweet spoilers for a popular show like Breaking Bad, you are a terrible person.

4. I’ll admit it’s interesting to see when someone gets a new tattoo.  However, please wait until it heals to post a picture.  When I’m on Facebook, I am almost always snacking. The last thing I want to see when I’m eating is a swollen, red, infectious-looking tattoo.

5. Offensive/derogatory jokes are not OK to post.  Do you really want to promote yourself as a racist? You may not mean to hurt anyone, but you probably will.

6. Nobody likes online PDA. Nobody likes to see it in real life. An occasional shout-out to your boyfriend on #ManCrushMonday or on his birthday is OK. However, you do not need to post a new kissing picture every time you hangout.  Also, if your #ManCrushMonday is a picture of him every single week it gets old real fast.  Most annoying of all is when couples post paragraph long letters on each other’s walls. You are dating. I am pretty sure you have each other’s cell-phone number.  Intimate moments and conversations should not be shared with the world.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list.  The easiest way to make sure you are displaying a good image of yourself is to think about the following two questions.

1. Would I say this out loud to my mom?

2. Would I give a crap if someone else posted this?

If you answer yes to both questions, then you are good to go.