I have been working online in a public facing role for longer than most people have had an Internet connection. When I was younger, I could always use my age as a get out of jail free card when I made a fool of myself or crossed a major line in a way that was unforgivable. In fact I lost my first gig as columnist for a prominent resource website for exhibiting unabashed prejudice against another website that I was jealous of. Some of my early antics made Paul Christoforo look like Edward Bernays, and the only reason I can still look at myself in the mirror is because the category of my business was fantasy wrestling, and 95 percent of participants were still a couple years from being legally able to drive.
Even though I’ve shifted my online consulting business to include public relations to accommodate social media and customer service, I still find myself guilty of ignoring what I preach from time to time. These faux pas may seem innocuous, but they can be the difference in being taken seriously and deemed a nitwit.
Confusing the author and site owner
I read tons of social media articles every day. Some come from bloggers who I’m associated with on Triberr, and a lot are recommended by friends on various social media channels. Two separate times in the past month I’ve come across blogs that I thought were amazing, and after running up on them two or three times I left a comment saying so. Both times I complimented the owner’s writing ability…. Both times the comments ended up on guest posts that were written by others.
Not only is this offensive to the blog owner who thinks that you are going through the paces or simply don’t pay attention to details, it’s extremely rude to the person who actually penned the content. I wouldn’t go to Chris Brogan’s page and gush about how good of a writer Jeff Bullas is, but I did just that on a guest post on Jeff’s blog. I realized my faux pas shortly after, and my comments were actually based on the previous two articles that Jeff did actually write as much as it was on the one that I posted on. I thought that it may be more offensive to the actual writer if I went back and explained myself, so now I just try and pay more attention to the byline.
Automated Content Distribution
I have lots of ideas and work interests. Some of my online income comes from articles I’ve written several months ago that are often penalized by Google for being on competitor’s websites (so I need alternate methods of promotion). I also have a day job that doesn’t include Facebook and Twitter, so I rely on a couple of tools to share content from a few of my blogs at intervals throughout the day. A lot of people automate or schedule posts, but it’s something I have always considered a gray area.
Imagine that I had written an article joking about the severity of the east coast earthquake that occurred in the fall of 2011. It is a perfectly pertinent article in November 2011, but it loses all of its relevance as we move toward 2013. Since it comes from a WordPress plugin called “Tweet Old Posts”, it won’t even be included in the tweets until it’s out of date. It becomes a catastrophe when on the day a massive Earthquake kills a hundred thousand people and my first tweet of that day is titled “Why Earthquake Survivors Need to Get Over Themselves”. Whoa, who does this guy think he is? Wait, he sounds like he’s semi famous, we better alert Reddit! Now I’m the subject of social media blogs in the “what not to do posts” as opposed to the writer. Maybe it’s time to question the value of the “Tweet Old Posts” plugin.
Dirty Jokes and Offensive Humor
If you’re a friend on my personal Facebook, you know that I share a lot of memes and humor content, mostly in the form of images. I’ve shared Internet humor since Joe Cartoon invented the “Frog in a Blender”, and it’s impossible to offend the people I went to high school and college with. My friends list has grown significantly over the last year, and it covers people from a broad range of backgrounds and tolerance thresholds.
A month ago I came across a funny sign posted in an apartment hallway that was directed at someone who found graffiti, particularly the phallic type, very humorous. It read something like “Dear person who draws penises everywhere in the apartment building. No one besides you finds this amusing, and we’d appreciate if you would stop. It ruins my day when I go to press and elevator button and realize I touched the tip of a depiction of an oversized penis. Thank You, your neighbor”. Now I find this situation disgusting, and would personally have hunted down the neighbor who was offending everyone, and resolved this matter once and for all. The funny part was the penis that wound up drawn on the note. It’s grade school humor, but there is still something clever about answering someone’s complaint about phallic drawings with a phallic drawing.
A couple of weeks later, my grandma called me into her kitchen. I didn’t know what she wanted, but she was serious and didn’t want my great grandma to hear it, so I feared the worse. When I made it into the kitchen, she looked me in the eye, and asked me why there was a penis on my Facebook page. At first I denied it, and was dumbfounded at the accusation. I figured I may have been hacked or worse yet somehow had taken an R rated picture on accident while dressing and it had accidentally found its way into one of my albums. After I realized it was the teenager’s drawing (that wasn’t anatomically correct at all) and not a real photo, I almost started laughing. It really became funny to me when she told me how she had asked a friend at work to look at my Facebook profile to see if they could find some articles I had written, and came across a picture of a penis. I removed it as soon as I got home, and since they never read the note and realized that the drawing was a joke, I never, ever, post anything adorned with phallic sketch on it anymore.
Everyone messes up from time to time, but as we become more prominent, we find that we have much more to lose, and it takes less and less to cross the same lines. Just consider the President, and how much George W. Bush was scrutinized for just giving vacant looks and mispronouncing words. What kind of faux pas have you committed lately? Are there any habits that you have trouble breaking, or things that you consider part of your personality even though it is taboo to many people?
Yea right the guest post thing has never happened to me before, not even on the last post I commented on. Funny how that works, huh?
Though I admit I did notice the by line before actually writing anything stupid. But it does happen. Especially when someone sneaks a guest poster in on us.
Thanks for the nice light hearted post with a good message- Watch were you step- sound advice.
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Just on the subject of Dirty Jokes and Offensive Humour, this should never be a problem if you have conscientiously curated your ‘friends’ into corresponding lists. I post all sorts of stuff through my FB stream, and always, ALWAYS, pick the appropriate list for the content I’m sharing. I’ve also taken the time to curtail who gets to see Comments or Likes on posts I share or comment on. I also ask myself, “is this something I would share at a party without fear of upsetting or offending anyone”? If the answer is in doubt, I think twice about posting it at all.
Twitter: VaughanJ
Adam, Thanks for connecting on Twitter. I have enjoyed reading about your experiences in Internet marketing and look forward to more. I’m still learning a lot about social media and starting to build it. As for blunders, I hit the Facebook invite button twice on Klout, which double invited people, which wasn’t cool. I didn’t know it would re-send to the same people. Oh well.
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haha The Klout Invite application is the biggest piece of shit on the Internet. It will invite you even if you’re already on Klout!! I advise people to stay away from that thing, someone just posted n the Social Media Sun Facebook group last week about it. I’ve been invited at least 50 times… and I’ve been on Klout for almost a year now.
I post more often on the “Big Blog” now, http://socialmediasun.com/ – you’ll see me every Monday. Be sure to stop by! We have a lot of other great guests as well. I’ll still stop by here if I feel like being irrverent or have something more personal!
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I realized it was the teenager’s drawing (that wasn’t anatomically correct at all) and not a real photo, I almost started laughing.
Hi Adam – I will have to stop by your blog more often. I loved this post! I too have made the horrible boo boo of confusing a site owner and guest blogger, when posting a reply. (It’s rather like sending an email to a person with a similar or identical name – and then realising later… fail!) I too realised after the fact and felt rather bad. It is so easy to be in a rush in the digital world…. but it really is critical to slow down and pay attention to the detail… as you have said. I have made more pertinent practice of never posting when I am 1.) in a rush, 2.) tired, 3.) distracted and 4.) don’t have my glasses on; and I re-read everything that I post. Thanks for sharing some great stories and some great advice on what not to do… online.
Twitter: juliaserafina
This happened almost a year ago—as a matter of fact, it was the 4th Sunday in January 2011, our 15th Church and Pastor’s Anniversary. It was a grand occasion. We even had special guests visiting with us from the Atlanta, GA area (some 140 miles away). The church was PACKED!
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Towards the end of the service, we (the congregation) were asked to stand. Well, simultaneously, as soon as I stood, the elastic waistband of my pants broke–so I stood up and my pants fell down!
I am sure this is a big help and I think every person will benefit from this post.. Thanks!
I loved this post! I too have made the horrible boo boo of confusing a site owner and guest blogger, when posting a reply. (It’s rather like sending an email to a person with a similar or identical name – and then realising later…Florida SEO
Hi. Why is there a picture of the president here? It’s obviously supposed to be funny or a faux pas, but all I see is Mr. Obama with a cap and t-shirt on, while apparently at a gym or fitness center. Normal behavior.
Where is the humor or backstory that I’m missing?
Hi there, interesting article. The biggest rule to remember is this: do NOT post on social media when you are under the influence of alcohol! The worst thing about mobile internet is you can post on FB or Twitter anywhere, anytime, including when you’re drunk.
Aside from that nugget of advice, I just wondered if you could please elaborate on this:
“Some of my online income comes from articles I’ve written several months ago that are often penalized by Google for being on competitor’s websites.”
What do you mean here – were your articles stolen or were you distributing the same content on multiple sites? And what actually happened when you got penalised?
Thanks,
Mark
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Looks like the site has some promise to it. Great to see more niche sites making their way around. Well done Adams!!!
I post all sorts of stuff through my FB stream, and always, ALWAYS, pick the appropriate list for the content I’m sharing. I’ve also taken the time to curtail who gets to see Comments or Likes on posts I share or comment on
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social media provides new marketing methods and all, but then again, most of the entertainment business’ revenue comes from advertisers. so, social media might be an ally and an enemy at the same time.
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This makes me think and be a bit sleet to hit share on off color jokes on FB especially as my blog becomes more popular and I more subscribers that don’t know me.
Thanks a lot for sharing this useful and attractive information and I will be waiting for other interesting posts from you in the nearest future. keep it up.