Social Media Rules (SMR's)

Social media has evolved into more than just chatting with an old college bud on the east coast.  More small businesses and entreprenuers are utilizing this mode of communication not only to sell, but to inform.  But the courtesies should be still observed. 

SMR #1: Be courteous, even when they are your real friends. Everybody will see what you write - everybody....

SMR #2: Keep the comment thread to the original subject matter.  If the discussion is about a recent movie all parties have watched, do not jump into the conversation and talk about your dog’s scratching habits.

SMR #3: If the original post was something deep and poignant, don’t try to be funny and crack jokes about the post, about others commenting on the post, or something completely random and inappropriate.  If this were a verbal conversation, such irrelevant comments would be considered “rude”. 

SMR #4: Promote those people in your network.  This lets people know that you are indeed “listening” to them.  For Twitter do @mentions, RT’s and re-Tweets.  For Facebook, “Share” links, “Like” comments, and post on others’ Walls.   This is social networking at its basic. 

SMR #5: Be positive!  Never ever make fun of another person’s blog, comments, business model, posts, etc.  Remember: you reap what you sow, so if you want to be positively promoted, do the same.  I think this is called “The Golden Rule”.