Via GIPHY The situation: Your friends are constantly sliding into your direct messages (DMs) while you are trying to stay on top of emails. The rules may shift by next year - even next month - but for once, I know what I am doing. Social media gurus Olivia Howell, founder of Howell Media House, and Kim Ring, founder of Ring Communications, guide their clients (and friends) through the ins and outs of digital etiquettes. So, in an attempt to gain some clarity, I did what our Girl Scout troop leaders did and consulted the experts. We all hover above our phones or behind our computer screens, not quite convinced what we are doing is right, afraid of offending our friends, bosses and in-laws. But I am in the same boat as everyone else I know. I am still not sure when a text requires a response, a thumbs up or a double exclamation point. Once I learned how long I had to respond to Snapchats, I had to do the same with Instagram stories. You could call social media the Wild, Wild West, sure, but there are some rules - it’s just nearly impossible to figure out what they are. The thank-you-note skills I learned still apply, but what about thank-you emails? Thank-you texts? Thank-you DMs? I know exactly the right fork to choose for a salad course, but what about choosing a filter for an Instagram photo of a friend? Nearly 20 years later, things have taken a turn. I remember thinking how easy it seemed, that all I had to do was memorize a long list of rules and I would be set - any uncomfortable situation could be solved, any question could be answered.
#Instagram read receipts how to
We learned how to thank someone for a gift, signal to a waiter that we were done with a meal and send cards for each major milestone. When I was a 10-year-old Girl Scout, my troop took an etiquette class.