Social networking. That is the talk of the later day and it almost seems to be a necessity. Whether it is necessary is not what I want to talk about in this post, lest I be biased. The coming in of the smartphone age has some in with a range of applications people are using for interaction and that has made the world smaller. A bit too small, actually.
Where are we going with this? Well. Read on and learn. I am on a number of social networks. Facebook (The basic. Everyone needs to be here), Twitter (follow me @Richard_Kamwezi), Skype (forgotten my ID), Google+, WeChat, BBM (BlackBerry Messenger. Got my pin somewhere), Viber, Whatsapp and PalmChat. I know there is Instangram missing here. Not yet. I am not sure whether some of these quality to be called Social Networks by standard definition, but for the purposes of this, I will define a social network as any digital platform people use to interact. I hate complicating things.
While some would think I am not advanced enough for not being exhaustive with my networks, others would think that I am doing too much of it. This should not be a big issue. I am one of those people who just join things because they can; in a bid to try out something new.
Anyway. Enough with beating about the bush. Let's get to the meat of this and narrow it down to two networks; Facebook and Whatsapp. In case you are wondering why I chose the two, well, here are the reasons.
Facebook first. This happens to be the entry point into social networks and is one of the most used networks all over the globe. Makes it an exciting thing to be on, but on the other hand one of the most stupidly used (or is it misused?) network.
Whatsapp? Nowadays people are defining a phone's smartness by its compatibility with Whatsapp, which means it is making a name for itself out there. I got 400+ contacts on Whatsapp and that is high even by my own standards.
This sort of patronage then merits the two networks the attention I have given them, but that's not all. As the title sums it, it is not the patronage but also the things that people do on these networks that have conceived this writing.
From my viewpoint (which is one of the most objective in the World), most of us lack the know-how when it comes to using social networks. Done beating about the bush. Straight to the mistakes.
1. Having stupidly fancy names on social networks.
I do not know what people find hard about using their real names on Facebook but people have ended up using nicknames devoid of meaning and identity. Some want to add their spouses names to their usernames even without exchanging vows. Wakuti was wakuti. Tulo. Having celebrity names as middle names. Unacceptable.
2. Having more than 2 accounts on one network.
What for? Do you get paid for this?
And you expect every Jim and Jane to be connected to all of your accounts. Unrealistic.
3. Not having legit details on your accounts.
I don't know what is so hard about having your legit info on a social network. Some seem to want the fancies. Putting Poly as your college when you don't know where it is. Get a life.
Some have gone to the extremes of putting the wrong gender. Seriously?
I won't talk about profile pictures and relationship statuses.
4. Aimless and unreasonable connections.
I am not sure as to how people understand these networks, but I think they are meant for connecting with people we know and getting to know people we don't IF NECESSARY. In the case of people we already know, it is pretty simple. The issue comes up when people want to get connected with others they never knew because people don't seem to get the gist of this.
Networks have no restrictions, but that is the reason we have brains. If you have to connect with a stranger it has to be someone with some common interest or someone you have an "aim of connection" with.
Of late people have just grown this syndrome of throwing aimless Facebook requests and Twitter follows and when you ask them why they do it they can't even give you a reason. Are there trophies for "the most connected person" on our social networks?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Muzitolere.
5. Posted material.
Profanity, segregatory comments, racist posts and everything dividing. Boasting, know it all stuff.
Makes one wonder how some people were raised.
6. Wrong spelling and grammar.
I am not a saint in this field, but shall we all stick to the languages we are comfortable with, please?
There is no issue with making vernacular posts if you want to be heard out. Especially in groups where many see the stuff. Gross assassination of the Queen's language is not an uncommon occurrence nowadays which gets me asking as to whether teachers are still teaching subject verb agreement in our schools.
All in all, some who are so Anglicised try vernacular and the results are equally bad, so, shall we all stick to our sides to avoid embarrassment, please?
7. Attention seeking
The fact that you can tag someone on Facebook or mention someone on Twitter does not mean you always should. Some things do not concern the people you tag or mention.
Best way? Post things people are interested in. They comment or like without tags.
That's the same with those of you who create pages and add people to groups. There is a reason for which we have something called "common interest".
Photo tags. Let's be reasonable.
8. Unrelated comments
Not much to say here, but if someone is posting about football, it is not too much to expect people to comment about football.
9. Nudity and profanity
The last thing we want contaminating our networks. These are the things some people just don't know that do not belong to the social networks.
Well. Now you do. We don't want to see those body parts and there is a reason why God did not make us mind readers. He wanted the stupidity (profanity) in your mind to stay there.
10. Disinhibition
Well. Another big problem, especially with those looking for love and money. Is it wrong to find loved ones or business partners on these networks? Obviously not.
Love first. There are some people that just see the profile of a person, send a request (after the acceptance of which they post on the timeline of the new friend to say thank you) then go on to propose in their inbox. Usawi, chi chi?
People got to learn something called protocol and how to take it slow. So easy but it is proving too hard.
People have gone to pages where the admin posts a pic of a girl downloaded from a Kenyan website; claiming that the girl is looking for love and fellas have posted their numbers there with the hope that they will be called by the 'aspiring bae'. Well. I will be true with you. Those things are not true 97% of the time. And by the way, not every girl who is posting the beautiful pictures is that good let alone that beautiful. Ndanenatu.
All in all, enough said. Just realised that Ibhave written a lot about Facebook related sins without touching a bit of Whatsapp. I have to prepare a special one for that.
Some of you did not know that you were suffering from this Social Networking Know-how Deficiency Syndrome. Now I have pointed it out and you need to move in line.
By the way, some artist once did a song that talks about Facebook being a source of good things like true love and job opportunities for some. I have seen people get scholarships right there. Maybe it is time we need to look at it that way and cut out the aimless chit-chatting on our social networks.
