What's Netiquette? (Manifesto)

   As I scroll through the white noise on Twitter and Facebook daily, nothing is surprising to me anymore! There is always an excessive amount of personal information and provocative word use on social networks today. This type of content is used daily in order for a person to argue their point or in the attempt to create a better image for themselves. Unaware of how harmful it is, we willingly grant the world the right to engage into their personal life. Nowadays the internet is used in the form. When it is appealing to our eye and the eyes of the surrounding others it makes us feel accomplished. So what do you think about the opinions of the future employers? When posting revealing pictures and consistently using infuriating words we put no thought into it. Your image is viewed more online than in person multiple times a day. However, be mindful that there are some must follow rules when accessing the internet.

  With the start of MySpace, the use of social networks expanded in 2003. MySpace happened to be the first social site we were most familiar with where no one younger than the age of sixteen was granted the right to join. Launched a year later, in 2004, Facebook was created for the use of college students in order to keep in touch with one another. Two years later, in 2006, Twitter was launched for the use of expressing feelings or informing your followers on “What’s Happening,” which is the slogan for Twitter. (Chapman)

  Furthermore, the problem that we intend to address is to be less specific when “expressing yourself” via Twitter and other social networks. It is terrible to say that we, most likely, aren’t familiar with half of the people we follow on social networks. Therefore, it is unsafe to share your personal information with anyone while conversing socially. No matter how “protected” your tweets are nor who’s follower request you have to accept because you’ve “blocked” your profile, it’s always accessible! It’s imperative to protect your personal information when interacting socially, so we are here to implant The Rules of Play for Social Media Interaction.

  The Rules of Play are the top eleven dos and don’ts. It’s important to perform these rules each time you access the internet because it creates a more enthusiastic networking experience.

The Rules of Play  (Associates)

·        Introduce yourself – Give your name, who you work for, what brings you there, and so on.

·        Participate in conversation - Comment on blogs, photos, videos; tweet and retweet; create and join groups and network.

·        Do not lie – Building a trustworthy online persona is the door to productive social media interaction.

·        Give and you shall receive – Follow a blog or Twitter feed, and there is a big chance that you will be followed back. Make comments, and you will receive comments back.

·        Get connected – Making friends online is actually a lot easier than in real life. Subscribe to RSS feeds, get connected and join groups. Share your LinkedIn profile and your Twitter account, and include a link to your blog in your emails.

·        Give credit – If you post something taken from another source, give the appropriate credit. Users like to be recognized and linked back to. Observe some basic copyright rules and never simply copy and paste content.

·        Talk like a human being – Try to avoid corporate jargon and meaningless words. Check your spelling and avoid excessive use of abbreviations that others may find confusing.

·        Respect the community – Avoid any kind of inappropriate behavior and language that may offend your followers.

·        Listen before you speak – Take time to carefully read what is being discussed and remember to establish a clear connection if you have something to say.

·        Add value to the conversation – Write something of substance, something new, something that others can learn from. Something worth reading!

·        Be creative, be fun – You must have a good sense of humor. Being witty, willing, and entertaining are ways you can ensure success.

 

    We find the most important rules to be numbers 3, 6, and 9, which are do not lie, give credit, and listen before you speak. To this generation, in particular, those rules are considered bomb threats because they thrive from dishonesty. Social networking is always a good thing, but it rarely takes place in the correct manner because everyone is busy trying to conduct themselves differently.

  Shamefully, another issue that we all tend to ignore is the fact that no one gives the proper “credit.” Every day we notice quotes and song lyrics that originated elsewhere that you all decide to use. There’s no problem with employing it, but we challenge you to “give credit when credit is due” meaning that you recognize the person from whom you borrowed it.

  In addition to rule numbers three and six, we also ask that you listen before you speak because there are many cases that we discover conversations where individuals just include themselves without any acknowledgement of what has taken place. While we may look at it as a problem others may disagree, but we address this action for the safety of future online experiences. Majority doesn’t mind the opinions of others, but it is better to contribute to the conversation with constructive criticism.

  We are aware that some may disagree with The Rules of Play and how it may improve their social experience. Most likely they will disagree with certain rules like numbers 2, 4, and 8 because users feel that they should be able to do more of what accommodates them. Therefore anyone that refuses to follow the rules will be dealt with accordingly. These eleven rules don’t ask for much they are just similar to an internet manual. The Rules of Play should be practiced worldwide, in fact, we plan to establish a federal law for netiquette, which is the proper use of the internet. Anyone that disagrees with putting these rules into play will no longer have access to any social networks.

  We were granted the right to post a copy of The Rules of Play in every library, school office, college labs and inside all the packaging of sold computers. The posting of the rules should grant everyone the chance to fix their previous netiquette techniques to refrain from being banned from social networks forever. Due to any cases of refusal there will be a fee that users are obligated to pay for disturbing the community and failure to pay the fee will result in deletion of all social profiles.
 
  Although some may argue that the eleven rules are unreasonable, We, MTP, beg to differ. Our job is to create a better social community for individuals that use the internet for important reasons and diminish those that are using it for entertainment becoming a hinderance to the others. Many believe that you should be you and do whatever makes you happy and in some cases that may be true, but when interacting socially “whatever makes you happy” brings about a different ball game. Your internet posts follow you for a lifetime so please beware of what you post!

   

Works Cited

Associates, Cambre. A Netiquette Guide for Social Media Interaction. Brussels, November 2012.

Chapman, Cameron. The History of the Internet in a Nutshell. 15 November 2009. 20 October 2013.

Words To The Wise

BE the person you love.

LIVE your life without regrets.

DO whatever makes you smile.

DON'T worry about what they think.

STOP thinking about what could happen.

START your new dilemma today.

NEVER give up.

ALWAYS pray.

WELCOME new people into your life.

CREATE more of you and less of them.

BRING new ideas to the table.

LEARN from your mistakes.

 

I created this Manifesto as a personal reference to myself because some days I wake up discouraged or maybe not in the mood to do anything. Being a freshman college student can be a hard pill to swallow, but I'm learning to live with the adjustment! However, this is one of my favorites activites so far, Professor Koester, I love creative writing! :)