The document discusses how to avoid misusing Facebook. It outlines five rules for proper Facebook use: 1) Only add people who actually know you and introduce yourself if they don't; 2) Don't mass send game invites as it can irritate bosses; 3) Don't tag others in photos that could put their jobs at risk; 4) Don't say anything online you couldn't say in person; 5) Think about how your current or future employer may view your social media posts. Following these simple guidelines can help limit the misuse of Facebook and its negative impacts on relationships and employment opportunities.

1. Dennis Dols
Business Communication II
November 21, 2014
How to Avoid Misuse of Facebook
In this digital day and age, we abuse so many of our ways to communicate with each
other but none get more abused than Facebook. We use Facebook for more than just staying in
touch with friends by using it to form relationships and most importantly it influences our job
hire ability. If we follow some simple rules and guidelines the misuse of Facebook can be
avoided and changed. Further in I will discuss five rules that can help everyone avoid the ever
evident misuse of the social media site Facebook (Downing, et. al., 2014).
As I stated before if we follow a set of rules and guidelines, we can all avoid the
unintentional misuse of Facebook but I will cover five of them right here. First, make sure that
those we try to add actually know who we are (Downing, et. al., 2014). If the person doesn’t
know who we are then we should introduce our self (Downing, et. al., 2014). “You wouldn’t
walk up to some random person and start talking to them” (Downing, et. al., p.319, 2014).
Second, don’t mass send game invites (Downing, et. al., 2014). Nothing will irritate our bosses
than to get constant game invites. Remember they are using this as a business tool and will likely
view the invites as spam (Downing, et. al., 2014). Third, don’t put others jobs at risk (Downing,
et. al., 2014). If Jenna from the staff party posts a pick of herself in her underwear and holding a
bong, don’t tag her (Downing, et. al., 2014). Look at it this way, if we did the same thing what
would the job repercussions be? Next, we shouldn’t say anything online we couldn’t say face-to-
face (Downing, et. al., 2014). We abuse this more than any other feature on Facebook. We use
the chat feature as a way of avoiding face-to-face conversations. “No one likes someone who

2. constantly talks about and promotes herself in person…don’t like that person online” (Downing,
et. al., p.319, 2014). Lastly, think about the consequences of you social media use (Downing, et.
al., 2014). The best thing to think is if I post this, how will my next or current employer view it.
If it is negative don’t post it.
Facebook is the most misused new media around and by following these rules, we can limit that
misuse. The rules we covered are make sure those we add know who we are, don’t send mass
game invites, don’t put others jobs at risk, don’t say anything online we cant say face-to-face,
and think of the consequences of our actions online. We follow these rules, then we can stomp
out the misuse of Facebook once and for all.