The tools for keeping in touch online are in a constant state of evolution - that means that the etiquette that must be observed by social networking daters is constantly changing, too. To avoid commiting a social networking crime, keep the following four "Do's" in mind whenever you log on:
- Do keep your inner stalker in check. It can be useful to learn a little bit of information about someone online, particularly if you met them on a dating site and haven't met them in person yet, but it's easy to get carried away. Get to know your date face-to-face, through conversation, not via the pages they've "liked" on Facebook. And remember that once a relationship has blossomed, it's still important to keep your stalker tendencies tucked away. Don't spend hours keeping up with your partner's social networking activities, and don't overshare on the social networking sites you use. Maintaining a little mystery is always a good thing.
- Do keep your racier photos private. You might love that picture of you and your honey making out in the back corner of the local dingy dive bar, but that doesn't mean that all 758 of your Facebook friends love it too. PDA can be just as inappropriate online as it is offline. And if you're in to sending even more scandalous photos to your partners, do it without an audience, using private albums on photo sharing sites.
- Do make use of the handy love-life-sustaining tools the Internet provides to keep a long distance relationship alive. Write private blogs to one another so that you feel connected with each other's every day life, even when you're far apart. Send each other cards or surprise gifts ordered online. Use Skype, or a similar service, to keep in touch and keep your phone bill down. Bonus points for creative uses of the camera feature.
- Do consider deleting old photos of old flames. Letting go of former relationships is hard, and holding on to the past by pouring over all the photos of you and your ex on Facebook only makes it harder. You don't have to remove all signs that your ex ever existed from your social networking sites of choice, but it's wise to cut back on the number of their appearances both for your own sanity and to prevent potential new love interests from ditching you over concerns that you're still pining for your ex.
Bonus Technological Tip: If "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Networkers" was a book, "drunk texting" would not be on the list. Neither word drunk Tweeting, drunk Gchatting, or drunk status updating. Not only could you say something damaging to your self-esteem or to your relationship, a slew of communiques you don't remember sending might be a sign that you need to cut back on the boozing, if only for your liver's sake. Make use of programs, like the one provided by Google, that don't allow you to send messages during your peak hours of imbibing unless you pass a sobriety test.
For reviews of similar sites that you can use for dating like Facebook and Twitter, please check out our Social Networking category. If you are looking for the flip side of this blog post, you can read the don'ts of social networking.