Protocol for Facebook
Facebook was founded in 2004 as a way to allow users to keep in contact with their friends, family and colleagues. The site boasts over 500 million active users. In addition to the ability to communicate with friends, the social networking site allows account holders to play games and use other applications, or apps, as well as upload photos and videos to share. As with almost any social platform, there are certain etiquette protocols that users of Facebook should follow, so as not to negatively affect the safety and enjoyment of the site for themselves or their friends.
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Be Selective
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You don't have to accept every single friend request you receive. Nor is it mandatory to send a friend request to every single person you've exchanged cordials with or who shows up in the "People You May Know" friend suggestion sidebar. Be selective and only accept or extend friend requests when the person is actually someone you either know or would like to become friends with.
Be Discrete
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Remember that the digital age means everything that is posted online can be found, no matter how well your profile is hidden or locked. Do not post anything incriminating that you would not want coming back to you later. This includes "party" photos of you looking drunk, insulting or crude status updates and comments or any videos that may not show you in the best light. Ask yourself if whatever you're posting would be appropriate for any future employers or your Great Aunt Mildred to see.
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Be Responsible
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Facebook has the option to create "Groups" to import people on your friends list. This separates your work friends, social friends and your "only-accepted-the-friend-request-to-keep-family-peace" friends. You can adjust the privacy settings for each group to allow or prevent them from seeing certain information on your page, from status updates to photos. Although not meant to replace common sense and polite manners, this helps to prevent unintentional faux pas by allowing the "wrong person" to see the wrong thing.
Don't Be A Friend Collector
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Perhaps you've seen these "friend collectors." They're the people with hundreds, even thousands of "friends" in their list and add more each day. The motive of a friend collector is to simply send a friend request to every single person they come across on Facebook, whether they actually know the person or not. Consider each and every request you extend and receive as a serious invitation and not simply as a way to fatten up your --- or their --- friends' list.
Don't Overdo the Fun
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Facebook allows friends to share the fun by playing games and taking entertaining quizzes. These applications usually include an option to send an invitation to your friends to take the same quiz or join in on the game. While this can spread a bit of fun around your friends' list, don't overdo it. Minimize the number of invitations you send to your friends so as to not overwhelm their news feed and possibly cause them to become annoyed with you.
Don't "Vague-book"
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Facebook status updates give the people on your friends' list an insight into what's going on with your life at any particular moment. While this can range from the happy -- "Julie just got an 'A' on her physics test!" -- to the mundane -- "Joe is running to the hardware store to finally fix that squeaky porch rail," one particular type of post to avoid is what's known as "vague-booking." Vague status updates that require your friends to request, even beg for more information can annoy and frustrate even the closest friends. "Sue is really, really scared right now" makes others worry for your safety and feel annoyed when they find out you're just watching a horror movie. Post complete thoughts and leave the cryptic messages to fiction novels.
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