It is well known that Canadians are friendly people. Our favourite word is sorry, we eternally wave when people let us in on the road and we pay it forward in the Tim Hortons line. I personally consider myself a friendly Canadian and a conscientious person. So when I see bad behaviour and poor manners on social media, I feel that people could learn a few things from us. Let’s just be a little kinder to one another with these three simple tips;
1. Support One Another
The whole point of social media is to interact with one another. This is my favourite part of it; that we can connect with people from all over the world that we wouldn’t have met otherwise. Social media is not all about you. It is about connecting and engaging with one another and showing your support for the ones you have decided to follow. So show some love and comment a bit more. I am super supportive of people that I know in real life, as I like to see what they are up to. Some of these people have never liked a single post I have put up; and I am not posting pics of my half eaten lunch! This boggles my mind. I think some people post things and then don’t bother to look at anyone else’s. What is the point of that?!? Let’s show some more support and stick around to see what people are doing.
2. Say Thank You
This should be a given, but thank someone when they leave a nice comment by liking their comment or commenting back. I am surprised that a lot of people, especially those with larger accounts don’t do this. I will often go through the list of people that liked my posts, see if I missed some of their content and send back some likes. This might be taking things to an extreme, but like I said I am a contentious Canadian!
3. Don’t Use People to Get Ahead
Some of you may or may not know about the follow/unfollower. This is a person that follows you in hope that you will follow them back. Once you follow them back, they quickly unfollow you and hope you don’t notice. It is a way for this person to build a large following by fooling others into following them. This is my biggest pet peeve on social media. I can see one of these people from a mile away as they usually have about 50k Followers, follow about 1000 and have mediocre (but sometimes good) content. This practice is completely self serving, rude and unethical. If a business does this to me it makes me question their integrity. This really goes against everything that social media is intended for as it is very one sided.
To this date, I have been a victim of the follow/unfollower 1325 times on Instagram! To identify these people I have the Follower App which shows me who has unfollowed, deleted likes and comments etc. No matter how you try and justify follow/unfollowing to yourself, don’t do it! I could have tens of thousands of followers by now if I used this method, but I’d rather maintain my integrity and do things the old fashion way. Just ask yourself, what would a Canadian do?
I hope I have inspired you to be a little more thoughtful on social media. What are some of your pet peeves on social media or the blogger world? I would love to hear your opinions!
Thanks for stopping by,
Kira
Great post! Such a great change from all the negativity out there. Thanks!
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Thank you! Yes to the positivity! We need more in the world π
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General politeness does a lot to simply make the world a better place, be it on line or in real life. It’s good to be reminded of that.
When I saw your comment about “sorry,” I decided maybe I was Canadian in another life. I wrote about saying “sorry” too much!
https://walkthegoats.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/a-habit-of-apologizing/
(Hope it’s ok to post a link to my post. If not, you can add that to your next post on blogging etiquette!)
Thanks for this. Nice pictures, too.
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Haha! Maybe you were a Canadian in another life. No worries about posting your blog. Happy to read it π
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Great tips for social media, but also a great reminder for in person relationships as well. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you! Sometimes we need to remind ourselves for sure π
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Wonderful post. This follow unfollow thing is seriously annoying.
I dont understand why people find it so hard to genuinely follow and support each other’s work.People are simply after likes and number.
Anyways, i cant agree more with ur post, i feel the same way.And this actually is a great place where we can know people from so distant places whom we would hv not known otherwise.Atleast i will try to support others work π
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Thank you! I agree. I find that the blogging world is a lot more supportive than the social media outlets π
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I loved this. We all could use a little more Canadian nicety…it is not a bad thing to just be *nice*.
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Thank you, glad you enjoyed it π
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I actually pulled the plug a couple years back and surprise, my world didn’t implode and I feel like I miss absolutely nothing except a lot of needless arguing and bad feelings.
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Very interesting. I have become more involved with social media since starting my blog. A break may be a good idea!
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Between political arguments, wanting to scream βI donβt care!β at too many entries and people using the term βblessedβ far too liberally, it was much better for my mental health to walk away.
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Oh my goodness. I hate when people follow and unfollow just to gain followers. I once had someone follow me on Twitter. Their content was good, and I actually enjoyed their page. I went back the next day and they had unfollowed me. I felt obliged to send them a direct message, pretty much stating exactly what you wrote! He never replied. Ugh, how angry that makes me!
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It is very frustrating. I will often call people out and leave a comment about how uncool it is. But then I think it may be bad Karma on my part. Not sure the best way of dealing with it…
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I try not to worry. Social media should be for those that CARE about what you’re posting, not those that abuse the power of it.
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I think I might be part Canadian or maybe some has rubbed off on me because I live close to the US/ Canada boarder. While I don’t use social media (only my blog) I find rudeness unacceptable.
I do not, however, like it when people say “I’m sorry” all the time (the part of me that’s not Canadian) LOL. I think it should be said when it is meant. I often call people out on it by saying “No you’re not” or “why are you sorry?”
This was a great post.
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Yes, Canadians say sorry for breathing. Not a lot of sincerity behind it. The politeness goes a long way though! Thanks for reading ππ»
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I love this post Kira! π esp the one about the follow/unfollow game that people like to play. It’s awful and it’s just wrong.
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Haha, this is so accurate. I guess we all could take a leaf out of the Canadians’ book and be a bit nicer to each other and try to make the world a better place.
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I’m sorry, I forgot to add “Eh, guy?” π
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Thatβs right eh?! You pretty much inspired me to write this one. So thanks for that ππ»
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Haha. I’m glad to be of inspiration to you. I just realized I haven’t followed you on insta yet. I just might do that now. π
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Is your name the same as on here? I will look out for you ππ»
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No not really. I’ve sent you a message too there, just followed you today. You might find it in the inbox.
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Got it ππ»
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Such great points..
π
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As a fellow Canadian I couldnβt agree more π
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I really enjoyed this post. Number 3 is also my biggest pet peeve. It drives me crazy. I don’t have an app but if I notice who they are I do unfollow them, because I feel it is quite unethical and plain pathetic.
So by the way, I was nominated for the Mystery Blogger Award and have nominated you for the same. Check out my Mystery Blogger Award post for the details. YAY for us!
Judy @sensibledove
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Thank you for the nomination ππ» Trying figure out how to incorporate something like this into my blog as I donβt really write about myself. I will have to try and be creative about this one!
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