Minding Your Manners Online: Eight Lessons in Netiquette That Will Help You Succeed in Social Media Charm School

Social networking provides companies with a user-friendly, fast, and far-reaching way to connect with employees and clients. But as with face-to-face meetings, there are certain rules of etiquette that must be followed to achieve the desired outcome.

The Internet is a big, limitless place where the rules of everyday life don’t always apply. You can be whomever you want to be and say whatever you want to say…right? Well actually, no, you can’t – or at least, you shouldn’t. Especially if your online presence is connected to your professional image. The fact of the matter is, just as there is proper etiquette in the ‘real’ world, there’s a right way and a wrong way to behave in the online world, too. In fact, how you choose to communicate can have a very real impact on your relationships with employees, customers, and partners.

For some reason, many people seem to think that using social media gives them a pass to leave manners and etiquette behind. They don’t realize that social media can actually be a critical vehicle by which to engage customers and inspire employees.

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About the Author

Barry Libert is the author of Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business. He is Chairman and CEO of Mzinga^®, the leading provider of social software, services, and analytics that improve business performance. Barry has published five books on the value of social and information networks. He is a regularly featured keynote speaker at industry associations and for leading companies on the power of social media. He has been published in Newsweek, Smart Money, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, and he has appeared on CNN, CNBC, and NPR. Barry currently serves on the Board of Directors at Innocentive and The SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. To learn more about Barry, click here.