Social Media Tics that Might be Ticking Off Your Followers

Naturally, as imperfect humans, we all have little habits that sometimes annoy others. Often, we’re not even aware of our little eccentricities – nor that they’re driving someone else bonkers.

And because social media is – well – social, it stands to reason that our behaviors on those channels could be a source of irritation to those within our communities. Again, it comes with the territory of being human. We’ve all got tics that can potentially tick others off!

Disclaimer from the get-go – In providing the following examples, I am not singling out anyone or implicitly trying to cause anyone shame. I’m simply pointing out behaviors that I’ve witnessed to a large degree on my social channels that could possibly bother others if done repeatedly.

Facebook Faux Pas

• Liking an abundance of posts in a short period of time
  Did you know that they’re showing up in the news feeds of your fans? While the posts that you really do want your fans to see seem to be pushed to the bottom of the priority pile by Facebook’s algorithms, Facebook freely displays that you liked someone else’s post. Like 3 or 6 or 10 in a short period of time and you’re littering your fan’s news feeds. Appreciated? Not so much!

• Making customer policy and procedure statements via Facebook posts Facebook isn’t the place to remind customers about late payment policies or other sensitive topics that should be addressed one on one. C’mon. Use your noggin!

Twitter Twinges

• Sending automated Direct Messages when someone follows you
  It’s one of my biggest pet peeves. I’ve followed you because I looked at your profile and your tweets, and I found value in what you offer on Twitter. Don’t ruin the moment by sending me a gratuitous and self-promoting DM the moment I click “Follow.” It’s just another thing I need to read and delete. I’ve unfollowed people a result of it. I’ll bet others have, too.

• #FFs (a.k.a. Follow Fridays)
  OK, once in a while they’re appreciated, but on the whole, #FFs (in my experience) don’t do much for the folks mentioned in the #FF tweets other than make them feel obligated to acknowledge the mention –  and to include every other Twitter handle mentioned in the original message. Again, used sparingly (very sparingly). They’re good for mixing things up, but as a rule: forget about ‘em!

• Setting up shop as a quotation factory
  So the only thing you have to share is what other people said verbatim? Please explain your value proposition again!

Google+ Gaffes

• Posting animated GIFs featuring cute and cuddly kitty cats
  I personally don’t have anything against cats, but there’s only so much cute I can take as I peruse my feed. Once in a while to break the monotony is fine, but don’t inundate us with video tips of Fluffy jumping from the top of the fridge onto the head of someone’s poor unsuspecting house guest.

• Adding people to your circles, but disclosing nothing about yourself in your profile
  Really? You expect people to add you to their circles when you’ve provided no information whatsoever about your profession or your background  and when you haven’t made any of your posts public? How the heck do you expect us to figure out:

a. if you post the kinds of things we’re interested in?

b. which circles we should add you to?

Linkedin Lurches

• Liking too much, too soon
  Exact same issue as covered in the first bullet under the Facebook Faux Pas section of this post. I don’t  understand why Linkedin is emulating Facebook more and more in its evolution, but now your connections see every thumbs up that you’ve given to other posts. If you like bunches and bunches of posts in a short period of time, you’ll be the clutter in your connections’ news feed. Please, pace yourself!

• Endorsing people who you don’t know for skills that you’re not sure that they have
  Endorsements are appreciated, but they need to be sincere and have some significance to them. It’s fine to base an endorsement on someone’s body of work and interaction online, but make sure that you’ve studied the person awhile before giving them the nod. Never endorse for the purpose of getting an endorsement as a thank you – maybe you have a good feel for the endorsed’s skills and capabilities, but that doesn’t mean the endorsed knows enough about what you do to offer an endorsement in return.

We ALL have our little tics that can make us less than endearing to our online comrades, and we’ll never be perfect. (Thank goodness because the social web wouldn’t be nearly as interesting!) But with a little more thought and common sense, we can at least lower the frequency on the social media annoy-o-meter. 😉

Got any social media pet peeves that drive you crazy? Please share them here!