Have you noticed? The advent of Facebook and other social
networking sites has created a whole new brand of etiquette dilemmas. I was out
with the WS team the other night, and it turned out we’d all experienced these
new social situations (most of them a bit junior high in nature).
- Someone I know befriended a good girlfriend of mine. I’m on her profile picture, so he knows I’m on Facebook, but he didn’t “friend” me. Do I assume he doesn’t want to be friends? Do I “friend” him?
- Tagging photos is a popular Facebook feature. What if someone tags everyone in the photo except you? Being tagged in photos “boosts” your profile, so could someone be sabotaging you by leaving you out?
- More seriously, someone I know was inadvertently “outted” on his Facebook wall. With family not in on his secret, this was extremely traumatic!
- What about someone you met once at a party (whom you never expect to see again) “friending” you? Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitation on Facebook Friendship? Even creepier is someone you’ve never met who “friends” you.
- Some applications have a mind of their own. After simply opening an application, a WS team member realized that notifications had been sent to many of her contacts saying she had selected them as her most attractive friends. Friends that received this included a co-worker, former boss and a priest, but not her husband!
- My favorite kind of faux pas has to do with a Facebook application called Pokey, in which you have to feed your virtual dog to keep it healthy. A team member was asked to feed someone’s virtual dog while they were out of town. Isn’t that crossing some kind of line?
Have you witnessed a Facebook faux pas that we haven’t mentioned? Leave a comment with your thoughts!
