Facebook Rules: When should you Tag your friends?

With 750 million regular users, Facebook and its many social applications has given rise to a new need of social consideration. In the last few posts I addressed when you should friend and unfriend people. Now, when considering your friends, we should also be considerate of tagging them in photos and locations. Each person's sensitivity level on this issue varies, and it's really best not to assume it's ok to do whatever you like.

Checking In
When checking in on Facebook Places or other geo-location applications that allow you to tag and check your friends in too, be sure you ask your friends before doing so. For both safetey and privacy reasons, not every person wants to be followed or exposed as not being home. No matter how cool of a place you are with a hundred of your best friends, if you aren't sure about someone's preferences on being checked in, just ask. If you're really sensitive to it, you can change your settings to prevent people from checking you in.

Posting and Tagging in Photos
Photos are animals in and of themselves. Each person has rules for photos. For me there are no full body bathing suit photos and no photos with a drink in my hand. I'm a huge yoga lover, and no matter how cool I think yoga photos are, they are not always Facebook appropriate, especially when it isn't me in the photo!

When I do post photos and photo albums, I lock them to friends only, and sometimes I customize the viewers to be only the people at the event. That way you can share without broadcasting everything to Everyone, Friends of friends or even your parents' friends who may also be your Facebook friends. 

One you've posted albums or view albums from an event you attended, I'd say tag yourself in those photos as liberally as you'd like. Some people do no want to be tagged by other people. If you aren't sure, you can ask your friend's preferences or observe their behavior. If your friends are tagging tons of people, then they're likely comfortable with you tagging them if they haven't done so already.

Now that people are losing or not getting jobs in the first place over Facebook missteps, please use discretion and act wisely when posting and tagging. Be respectful of yourself and your friends. Social media is a wonderful tool to stay in touch, in the know, and involved. Like any other toy/tool out there, it just needs to be used wisely. You can!

Comments

[Alexia Isaak]

I haven't heard of Red Eye, so thanks for the head's up. I'll be careful if it comes around. The more people I talk to about this stuff, the more sensitivities I"m learning. Thanks for the comment!

[Steve Lovelace]

Good guidelines, Alexia. I also recommend not tagging people with Red Eye. I've learned this the hard way.