Tagging Etiquette On Facebook

In my previous post I talked about how to build a relationship with your network and how to increase your viral visibility by using the Share button.

Dangers Of Spamming

What I maybe didn't emphasise enough is the danger of overusing this tool and also of the potential for abuse by spammers who might choose to tag everyone who has a large network in order to utilise their wall space. With the new look facebook and the wall and newsfeed combined this becomes even more of a problem and is something I will be discussing in a future post.

A Valuable Lesson

I got a direct twitter message from Mari Smith, asking me to remove her from one of the tags that I had made on a post that was not directly relating to her.

marismith Ian - I need to ask you to remove your latest FB Note tag for me. It is not appropriate to tag peeps not mentioned in a note, imho

Mari made me aware of the dangers of abuse for this function so I would like to apologise if I have done something that is inappropriate and also use this as a valuable lesson so that others don't make this same mistake and facebook turns into a spam festival.

Ask People First

If you tag people make sure they are really your friends first and actually want to be tagged, maybe a good practice would be to send a person a personal message and ask them if they mind you tagging them in a note, That way you cover yourself and you don't abuse other peoples networks. I think that this would be a much more appropriate way to go and also stop what I can see as a real danger of abuse.

Differing Opinions

Each person has the right to decide where they stand in regard to tagging. There are definitely differing opinions. Some may want viral visibility others may want to keep themselves more private. Others only want to be tagged if the note directly mention them. Its up to you to find out first before you tag people. You face a real risk of being removed as a friend if you don't follow the correct

In my previous post I talked about how to build a relationship with your network and how to increase your viral visibility by using the Share button.

Knowledge Can Be Dangerous

Knowledge in the wrong hands and used in the wrong ways can be dangerous and have the opposite effect of keeping communication flowing. So I would like to urge people to uses extreme caution when tagging and sharing on facebook and to be respectful of each other. Only share something if you truly believe it is going to add some value to peoples lives.

In my previous post I talked about how to build a relationship with your network and how to increase your viral visibility by using the Share button.