Facebook Etiquette

Last Friday night, I sat around with Laura, Logan, Shelby, and Sarah discussing aspects of Facebook that bothered us. Rather, I should say, things that people do on Facebook that are questionable. So, we began developing a list of issues that could leave a lot of gray area as far as appropriate action is concerned, mostly involving relationships. As we chatted, I realized that this would be the perfect blog topic. Last week, we discussed rules and regulations Facebook should probably require all users to agree to. I would now like to highlight a few areas that call for the pure use of common sense and proper facebook etiquette. Please provide your feedback as well!

Questionable Subject 1: Wedding Pictures
Ok, so you are in a wedding and post the beautiful pictures on Facebook. Two years later, the couple gets divorced. What do you do with the pictures? Do you delete them? Do you untag the no longer so happily wed couple? Do you keep the select photos you like?

Questionable Subject 2: Pictures With Your Boyfriend or Girlfriend
You break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, do you delete or untag all of your pictures together? My answer is no. If you look through my old albums, you will find pictures of many of my ex's. Just because we broke up does not mean that they were never a big part of my life.

Questionable Subject 3: Relationship Status
I believe we covered this last week, but just a friendly reminder- if your relationship status is "it's complicated," you might want to reevaluate your relationship. Also, how long should you wait to make your relationship Facebook official? Should it happen instantly? You know that if it's not Facebook official, it's not official. When you do break up, who changes their relationship status first?

Questionable Subject 4: Facebook PDA
Public displays of affection are a little too much life in general, some people are more apt to partake than others. Facebook takes PDA to an entirely new level. An occasional "I love you" or "I miss you" is acceptable. But really... your "Facebook family" does not need to know how much you and your boyfriend or girlfriend love each other or how much you want to hold each other. Save that for more private forms of communication- text messaging or Facebook messaging. Where should the line be drawn? Should Facebook add a "this makes me want to puke button?"

Questionable Subject 5: Relationship Obsession
If every status you write is about you and your significant other, you might need help. If you comment on every post or picture that involves your significant other, please stop, you might need help. The world, especially me, does not need to know every aspect of your relationship, most definitely if it is fabricated. How much information is too much for Facebook?

Questionable Subject 6: Cheating on Facebook
Once again, I will use one of my favorite quotes, "Facebook is the downfall of players and pimps." You probably should not try to have multiple relationships at one time while using Facebook. If you catch someone cheating through Facebook, should you inform their significant other? Under what circumstances is it ok to share such information?

These are the main areas we discussed during our round table in the Rutlands' pool house. Now, it's your turn to weigh in on the topics. How do you feel about proper relationship etiquette on Facebook?