Social media affords you the chance to be a wonderful mix of creative, connected and ever-so-slightly self-centred. The right balance keeps your friends and followers up-to-date on your life without being overwhelming. Sadly, this is a lot easier said than done. Here are some ways that you may be falling towards the more annoying side of the spectrum, arranged by social network.
Facebook:
1. Writing on your best friend’s wall too often
We know you two are texting (or sitting next to each other) while you’re writing on each other’s walls, so are five posts a day really necessary? We’re totally happy that you’ve found your soulmate and everything, but try to keep these posts to a minimum.
2. Changing your profile picture every day
We understand that you have daily profile picture remorse and feel the need to switch back and forth between your four most recent defaults, but don’t punish the rest of us for your indecision. Pick one and just stick to it for a little while. You look great, we promise.
Instagram:
3. Instagramming every meal you eat
Everybody thinks to themselves, “Food Instagrams are so annoying, but I just can’t help myself on this one. This _____ looks so delicious, I have to Insta it!” Unless you’re absolutely dying to Instagram the cookie cake you just spent your Friday night baking, please refrain.
5. Inside joke captions
We want to like this picture of you and your friend because it’s cute, but if you make the caption something really cryptic and inside joke-y, we feel like we’re out of the loop and probably won’t toss it a like. So proceed at your own risk.
Snapchat:
6. Ten in a row with zero responses
If you’re sending out a bunch of mass snaps to someone who never responds, it may be time to take them off the go-to list. It’s possible they enjoy them and just can’t match your level of wittiness with a response, but better to be safe than sorry. Save your hilarity for those that respond.
7. 400-second Snapchat stories
Yes, we have seen this. No one is interesting enough for 400 seconds of snaps. Edit this down, we beg of you.
Twitter:
8. Extremely vague tweets
You know this isn’t a diary, right? People are supposed to be able to understand what you’re referring to in your tweet. So tweeting something that is supposed to seem intriguing and dramatic like, “It’s the worst when this happens,” or “OMG so excited, 3 more hours!” will only frustrate your followers. We will favourite your tweet when you elaborate.
9. Subtweeting
Subtweeting is when you tweet at someone but you don’t tag them. This is sort of like vague tweets, except kind of worse, because you’re attempting to be vague, but in reality it’s clear who you’re talking about. For example, “I hope you’re happy with her.” Here it’s clear that the tweeter is referring to her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend, and it’s making us sort of uncomfortable. Avoid if at all possible.
10. Changing your name so many times on Twitter that we don’t know who you are
If it takes us over 30 seconds to figure out who you are every time you tweet, you have gone too far. There’s nothing wrong with your real name. Or that nickname that you’ve had forever. But keep it at that.
Obviously, we are all guilty of these bad habits from time to time. It’s easy to slip when you’re bored or having a particularly great time with your friends. That said, if we can ban together and try to eliminate these social media faux-pas, it will be a happier world for all.