I have talked a lot in past of discretion online and how you the reader are responsible for your own actions online. This issue is just a reflection of what is going on in society today. Remember what goes on online is just a measure of society as a whole..

Case 1

Discretion is something our society today seems to lack. When I was younger we carried what information we shared and how we shared it. Today’s technology charged people do not seem to have the same care or beliefs that most of us did 20 years ago. Part of the issue is that we know have personal devices that allow us to invade the space of others. How can that happen? Let me show you with some example of how that happens and what should have been done instead. All the stories I am going to share with you are real situation that I have run into recently.

Yesterday afternoon I was on a city bus in Toronto and a young girl (In her teens) was talking to her mom on her cell phone. She called her mom a bitch and then proceeded to argue with her loudly. The bus must have had a hundred people on it. A hundred people which now just heard her entire conversation. Not only has this girl show her mom disrespect she has showed such a lack of judgement. The entire bus now knew that she called her mom a bitch. The fact that she did it on a bus did not even phase her. I know when I want to have a heavy conversation I take my phone to a spot where their is no one around. It used to be we all protected our personal space. This girl has chosen to invade communal space with her phone call. Most of all, she has shown a lack of discretion in keeping her own personal business private.

Case 2

The second story which also happened on public transportation is even more appalling then the first story. I was on the Go train in Toronto when a business executive called Air Canada to purchase a plane ticket. In purchasing the ticket he read his entire credit card number as well as the security code out loud. After he was done with his call I went up to him and explained what he did. I even suggested that he cancel his Visa since he had had read the card number out loud on a train which was packed. He was in the process of telling me to mind my own business when I read the card number, the security code, his name and the expiry date of the card back to him. His attitude suddenly changed and he thanked me for pointing out his error and he called Visa to cancel his card. If I was not an honest person I could have committed fraud and used his card.

How Do We Fix These Issues

The problem is we need to watch what information we give out in a public place. Remember we are not in private. As humans we do not like our private space invaded so please let’s not invade public space. Just because we have cell phones and other technology devices, please show some respect to the people around you. I twould make the world a better place.

Call to Action

How would you have handled the above two situations? How do you the reader feel about discretion. Please share with us by commenting so we can all learn a little more.

The last few weeks I have spent more time online in social media websites because I generally enjoy the people. Despite all the enjoyment I have I think it is time to address a major problem online and in society and that is called RESPECT. How do you show respect online and how do you treat people? Unfortunately some people get respect and some people do not. Those who do not often argue that the Internet is not real, people online do not have real feelings. That is so far from the truth that it is not funny. I am one of t he lucky ones I talk online to people from all over Canada and the world as far as Australia.

The issues of respect have been around for as long as people have been online. I am 42 years old and have been online for the better part since I was 13. I have run a BBS, been the NEC for a large Fido net system in Toronto, moderated several online message boards, been heavily involved online in many ways for most of my life. One thing that has not change is how people act and react.

At one time I was a channel operation on the Dalnet network of IRC networks. Back then the big issues was Flame wars. People would not like something someone said and then gang up on that person. The person being ganged up on would enlist his support and then retaliate and so on until it was exhausted. This was were Channel operators came in. We would moderate the flame e wars so they did not get out of hand.

Message Boards were not immune to these either. They had their share and caused many of the good people to leave because they were tired of the way they were treated.

Let’s now fast forward to 2009 and Twitter. Lately the lack of respect on Twitter has been getting out of hand. The type of issues are different than 15 years ago but unfortunately they are still around. What people forget about most in social media is it is all about engaging with people, discussions, getting to know people and building relationships.

The two big problems are auto DMs and @ reply messages that are advertising. I will discuss these two types of non engaging actives individually to explain what wrong with them. I would like to explain how you can be engaging on Twitter. What is most important is building the online community which you are a part off. If you take the time, the people are amazing on Twitter. The key is to get to know them. Once you do your online experience will be even better.

Let’s start with the first issue. The first is auto DMs. What an Auto DM is an automatic direct message. These are sent by Twitter tools to a user of Twitter without manual intervention. The most popular use of auto DMs is to advertise a web site or service. The problem with these auto DMs is they are just another form of Spam. How I handle these is I ignore the auto DM and I will no longer follow the user name which sent me the auto DM. As a result the offending user can no longer send me a DM since I am no longer following them. On Twitter you must be following someone and they must be following you to send them a direct message. The worst part about this is the send user does not get their message out and they will never get another message to you again. So it the long run it is a lose situation for them.

The 2nd issues is @reply spam. In Twitter if you wish to send someone a message you send it as an @userid. What marketers are doing now since people are ignoring auto DMs is sending @reply messages to advertise their product/service without even knowing you. This is spam is the worse way. This also gets me to ignore the user id, block it and report if for abuse. I will also no longer follow the user who sent me @reply spam.

What people have not figured out, is it is ok to promote your blog or service on Twitter but first you need to contribute to the community. Adding something of value is important but getting to know people and showing respect to them is even more important. What People need to avoid doing is what I call the look at me syndrome. The look at me syndrome means someone posts all day buys my service/go to my blog. All I do now is tune these messages out because they are all about the poster and not about contributing to the community.

Getting to know people is important. Adding value to the Twitter community is important. How do you add value people ask? One is to show respect if you like a tweet to re-tweet it(RT for short). Rting good content is a sign of contributing and respect. An RT also gives credit to the originator of the Tweet which is very important. The 2nd way to show respect is to help people. I know if someone posts a technical issue and I can help them I will take the time to assist them in resolving their issue. I will always take time to help someone if I can possibly can.

Respect is not rocket science. It is being aware of other people, their needs, their concerns, getting to know them and most of all caring about the community. If you show respect you will meet some awesome friends on Twitter:) I am very lucky because I have met some of the most amazing people around. The people I know and the relationships I have with them are very important to me.

Take the time to show respect. Your online experience will be better for it,