Social Media Ethics For University Freshers Studying Away From Home

Shifting away from home for studying purpose can be daunting in the beginning. Adjusting to a new lifestyle, university, place, and above all new people can be overwhelming. Right from your first day in college, you will put in your best efforts to get people to like you. It’s just human. You will want to make a good amount of friends. Further, with social media, it will just be easy. However, you must follow certain social media ethics.

The youth has fallen into a habit of posting almost everything about their life, online. While it’s good to share a few things online, you must know where to draw a line. It is important to keep in mind that once you connect with people through social media, you are constantly going to be judged. So to steer clear of all the unneeded judgments, you must follow certain social media ethics.

Let us look at some crucial social media dos and don’ts:

DOs

Use social media to connect with fellow students

The major advantage of social media is that it helps you connect with people. So connect with them, in order to make friends. By doing this, you will know what they are up to, how do they spend time and with whom, what kind of social circles do they have, etc. This will help you decide if you want to be friends with them.

Use social media to stay informed

Since everything these days is online, there will be many official as well as unofficial groups on various social media platforms. These will be used to post updates related to classes, fests, and other academic and extracurricular events. Using social media for this purpose will keep you informed about the happenings in your campus. 

Make Your Profile Private

The greed of attracting a large number of followers might lure you into making your profile public. But it’s not really safe. Whatever platform it may be, Instagram, Facebook or even Whatsapp, always keep your profile private. Since you are new, and won’t be knowing anyone, it’s always better to be safe. You know never which upload of yours gets picked up for unethical purposes.

Show your achievements and talents 

There is absolutely no harm in showcasing your achievements. If you hold a trophy for winning a particular competition, then you can surely upload an image of you posing with your trophy. This will speak highly about you and will make people think good about you. Similarly, if you are good about a particular activity, go ahead and showcase it. For example, if you are a great painter, you must definitely upload your work online. It will help you create a good identity.

Share good pieces of content you come across 

The internet exposes you to important and rich content. If you come across any nice and informative and article, you can always share it on your social media handles. The kind of content you share also speaks a lot about you. So make sure you share good content online. 

DON’Ts

Upload too much of your personal life

No one cares if you had an argument with someone in a public place. You don’t need to rant about it on social media. First Snapchat and now, Instagram and Facebook’s story feature has enabled us to share live moments. It is okay if we don’t always put this feature to use. Don’t spam your followers with constant pictures of you having breakfast, or sitting in the bus reading a book, or exercising and other routine activities. It irks people. There is no need to put up everything online. 

Give out your personal details

Again, your online community doesn’t need to know where you stay or who you are dating. If you do this, there remains no privacy in your life and your life becomes public. This can harm your safety. Putting up your contact details or sharing your live location or letting people know where you have checked in too, isn’t a safe thing to do.   

Post Unprofessional Images

You might want to post pictures to let people know that you are having a great time with your friends. But don’t post images that might be tilting towards immorality. If you are having a night out at a bar and decide to consume little alcohol, stay away from posting about it. You might think that it will make you look cool, but it can get you into serious trouble. Further, don’t post images or videos that might be offensive to people or feelings. You may be disliked by many and you surely don’t want that. 

Unnecessarily post comments and opinions

It’s always better to not get involved in something that doesn’t concern you. Sure, everybody wants to be heard and have their opinions put forth, but don’t do it when you are new. Don’t comment anything negative or offensive on anybody’s post or images.

These are basic social media ethics that one must always keep in mind, but more specifically university freshers who are studying away from home. It is important because it helps you build new relationships.