Online Etiquette – Seven Tips for making your online community experience more productive and enjoyable.
1. Remember you are interacting with people
Because you only see text, images, and videos on a monitor, it is easy to forget or ignore that person sits on the other side of the communication. This can tempt people to excess verbal boldness or emotional explosions, leaving readers angry and hurt. Over the Internet, you should consider yourself as having a face-to-face conversation with someone in a crowded room. Cursing and raw abuse are not appropriate. Keep debate civil, and keep it a debate, not a slanderous brawl. Always remember behind every post is a human being.
2. Differentiate between public and private messages
Online communities (such as groups on Facebook) are public spaces. Personal messages, such as criticism of a person’s writing style or spelling should be sent to that person only. To broadcast such messages in the group can embarrass and anger.
3. Be Descriptive
Your post will have a greater impact and more people will read it. Simplicity of expression usually is best.
4. Be prudent with speculation
On the internet, rumors can grow and spread like wildfire. Avoid using words like “all” or “everyone.” The term “most” is also often an exaggeration.
5. Be cautious with humor and sarcasm
Typed language is naturally colder than spoken language because it is stripped of voice inflections and body language. Most of the nuance is missing from the engagement. Quite easily, humor can be taken as an insult, especially if subtle. Don’t be afraid to use emoticons and emoji to help you get your point across.
6. Remember, everyone has an opinion
You can waste a lot of time arguing online. Always remember these two, time-saving slogans:
Many on the Internet are “not always right, but never in doubt.” You will be wasting time trying to convince some of your position or point.
“Who is the greater fool, the village idiot, or the person who argues with the village idiot?”
7. Have fun
And always keep your reason for being there at the forefront of your mind.
THE LCA BLOG
Weekly articles that cover every aspect of the real estate industry, growing your business, personal development & so much more.
Top-producing agents don’t outpace the field because they work harder or have more talent. They grow faster because they cut out the wrong work sooner. Where most agents wonder if they can take on another task, high-output agents ask a better question: Should this even be on my plate? That single shift from capability to […]
Brokerages spend heavily on technology, but most platforms never see real adoption. The problem is not the software itself. It is how these tools are built. Too often, real estate tech can add steps rather than removing work. When a platform creates extra tasks or new routines, agents stop using it, no matter how promising […]
Real Estate agents know what local marketing requires: updated profiles, prompt review responses, regular content, and a visible presence. The challenge is not knowing what to do, but doing it consistently. Fragmented schedules make maintaining consistency hard. The Execution Gap Local visibility comes from repetition, not one-off creativity. Agents who win in local search do […]