2012 was a year riddled with just plain horrible tech etiquette. It’s funny that as we become a more social society, we also forget our manners.
Here are 4 trends that I hope stay in 2012:
1. Chronic Subtweeting. Subtweeting, or subliminal tweeting, is possibly one of the most heinous offenses plaguing the the Twittersphere to date. Subtweets are defined by Urban Dictionary as tweets that are, “directly referring to a particular person without mentioning their name.” Subtweets can often be identified as tweets that use pronouns without reference to an individual’s actual name. For example, “He didn’t even say hi to me today #rude.” You may laugh at the frivolity of that example but take a closer look and I’m sure you’ll notice more subtweets than you think clogging up your feed.
To those of you who subtweet, I get that you want to vent, but it’s simply unprofessional. Show your followers some respect and cut down on those passive aggressive tweets that really aren’t helping anyone.
2. Tweets on Facebook. It’s usually pretty obvious based on the verbiage and phrasing when a status update comes from Twitter. But then there’s the dead giveaway: the #hashtag. Hashtags on Twitter are awesome; they create instant communities and group thoughts together. However, they serve absolutely no benefit on Facebook.
Having your tweets feed to Facebook is like hanging a big sign around your neck that says “I’m social media stupid.” It lets the whole world know that you don’t understand what either platform is for. Granted, I am a Facebook purist and believe that sites like Instagram and Pinterest should not cross-pollinate either, but connecting Twitter is particularly heinous. Really, its Twitter’s fault for providing the option in the first place, but now its up to us to know better than them.
3. Replying all to group texts. There’s no quicker way to kill your phone battery than to start a nice, big, group text. Group texts are a mixed blessing in that they allow us to save a lot of time, but can also get really annoying.
My general rule is that if not everyone needs to know you’re response, send the text only to the person who started the group message. Many people do not abide by this rule and will send a “k” or “you too!” to 20+ people.
Also, lets keep in mind that those of us who do not have iPhones, do not receive the messages nicely packaged and sorted together but as individual texts from each person.
4. Using texting abbreviations. If you have a smartphone, you no longer have an excuse to make spelling and grammar errors (unless you’re doing it ironically). This means no more improper use of “you’re” and no more spelling like as “lyk”.
It’s actually less work in the long run to just type properly. When you type with bad grammar and spelling they have to teach their phones that those words and conjugations are okay.
For those of us will iPhones who still carry the remnants of T9 texting habits, you can set a keyboard shortcut for abbreviations like “omw” or “ttys” to autocorrect to something more respectable.
What are your tech etiquette pet peeves? Share in the comments.