In the current digital era, we are familiar with different kinds social media and we may have an account on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube channel. Social media are websites or applications that enable their users to participate in social networking by creating and sharing content with others in the community. These platforms encourage users to share their thoughts and experiences through posts or pictures. In this way users can interact with other online users of those social media apps or channels. This is why the impact and outreach of social media has grown exponentially. It has begun to shape the outcome of politics, business, culture, education and more. In social media too, there are certain etiquettes we need to follow as shown in Figure.
Social media etiquettes
(A) Be Secure
Choose password wisely: it is vital for social network users. News of breaching or leakage of user data from social network often attracts headlines. Users should be wary of such possibilities and must know how to safeguard themselves and their accounts. The minimum one can do is to have strong and frequently changed password. Never share personal credentials like username and password with others.
Know who you befriend: social networks usually encourage connecting with users (making friends), sometime even those whom we don’t know or have not met. However, we need to be careful while befriending unknown people as their intentions possibly could be malicious and unsafe.
Beware of fake information: fake news, messages and posts are common in social networks. As a user, we should be aware of them. With experience, we should be able to figure out whether a news, message or post is genuine or fake. Thus, we should not blindly believe in everything that we come across on such platforms, we should apply our knowledge and experience to validate such news, message or post.
(B) Be Reliable
Think before uploading: we can upload almost anything on social network. However, remember that once uploaded, it is always there in the remote server even if we delete the files. Hence we need to be cautious while uploading or sending sensitive or confidential files which have a bearing on our privacy.
