Because I'm a Social Media Consultant & Trainer, I spend A LOT of time on various social media sites. Day after day I see the same 3-4 things that annoy the crap out of me and I just don't understand why people do them. Maybe they don't know any better, don't care or are just planning to get back to it later, but irregardless it causes problems or issues for those of us who take this more seriously. Am I hearing a collective groan of "get over it"? Well I've tried, but it matters to me so I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention once and for all.
Pet peeve #1 - On Facebook when you sign up for your account you are asked what network you are in. The reason for this is so people can find you easier and it helps group you into a category for searches, ads and messages. How hard is it to put where you are from, what city you live in or school you went to? This is really helpful when you are looking up i.e. (Mary Stuart) and there are 500 of them. Listing the city you live in helps people geo-target people in their area, narrow the search and increases the odds of others finding you. (Unless you don't want to be found) if that's the case, social media is NOT for you.
Pet peeve #2 - Not giving a brief bio of who you are. When people send me friend requests and I don't know them, I like to go to their profile and check them out first, just to see what they're about. Many times, if you are not already a friend you will only be able to see very limited information on people's profile. If they have filled out the box below their name, this allows you to have a sense of who you the person is and if you want to add them to your friends. To do this go to your profile page and click on the box below your picture, then write a brief bio and hit enter to save. Look what a difference these two simple things make.
Pet Peeve #3 - Twitter Profiles bios that are left empty or tell me nothing about you. They may only give you 160 characters to define yourself, but PLEASE, PLEASE....use it! This is how people decide if they want to follow you. It helps people create lists. It counts towards your keywords and is just good manners in the Twitterverse. If I have to troll through your Tweets and friends to decide if your worth following, I'm not going to do it. Make that little patch of real estate count and give us a hint of who or what you are. It only takes a minute but will yield you big results.
One more thing I'd like to mention. It's not so much a pet peeve as it is confusing. When you respond to something I've said on Twitter or are commenting on someone else's Tweet, please make reference to what your responding to. I love comments but if you answer with a one liner and I don't see it for several hours, I'll have no idea what your referring too and neither will anyone else. Remember, others are watching your Tweet stream as well so make it easy for everyone to understand and follow the conversation. If you don't want anyone else to know, then send it as a direct message (DM) instead.
That's how I feel. I'd love to know what annoys you about the various social sites you frequent. So please leave a reply.
Good insight, Monica. I agree with you. Thanks for sharing.
And for those of you who haven't worked with Monica, you don't know what your missing. This lady really knows here stuff.
Thanks for all your clarity, guidance and wisdom in the sometimes confusing and always changing world of social media!
Lisa C. Decker, CDFA
www.DivorceMoneyMatters.com
Posted by: Lisa C. Decker | February 20, 2010 at 01:12 PM