The Two Ingredients You Can Never Ignore Online

I have been thinking lately about how much things have changed over the past 5 years, and how the explosion of social media is turning the world into one 'blue collar network' of hard-working individuals, working where and whenever they need to.

In all of it, there remains two things that have not changed:

• The need for common sense.
• The need for common courtesy.

In truth, I hate it when people say, 'Use your common sense.' Common sense is 'rarely common & never makes sense', so I think it is an unfair term. Yet, it is still important, so how do you learn 'common sense'? That is quite simple, study and research what the common people do when it comes to the culture and etiquette of online communication. It is different than most people expect it to be when they start out. I cannot tell you how many times my mom has forwarded emails with the subject line, 'I saw this on Good Morning America!', and how many times I have shown her symantec.com to explain email hoaxes.

Being that this is a new world of communication, what saves people who are starting out in the online communication world is the second ingredient: Common Courtesy.

Common courtesy is basically 'understanding the human condition'. If you email someone, write to someone, share news, share information etc., and it either has a positive or negative effect, 'common courtesy' dictates how you should respond.

If you upset someone, you apologize. If someone shares great news about you, thank the person who did it. Be no different than you would in real life (because online communication has become real life), and translate that into the online world in a kind and friendly manner.

There is one exception; regarding 'do what you would do in real life'. I am a New York City-native, and lets just say...if you have a spicy temper, it is best to keep that kind of content, offline. Every single thing we write online is considered 'public record'. Those people who have offended you, metaphorically speaking 'stepped on your toes on subway', probably have offended others. Yet, typing 'how you feel in the moment' without considering the long-term damage is a mistake. The 'human condition' dictates that people will react to us, based on how we behave, so maybe the beauty of communicating online is that offensive content speaks for the person who wrote it, and there is no need to respond. However, if the person 'stepped on your toes', and then apologized, common courtesy may dictate a quick 'thank you for understanding.'

In the end...this is one world with people using computers to say everything. Even with all of the technology, what my grandmother taught me, long before any of this, is to always remember to say 'please', 'thank you', and always be an outstanding individual to others.

I still remember the day she said that to me...I was at a wedding, and she was telling me how tough life was during the 1930's, while explaining that just being a good person was always what got her through learning how to cope with change.

To her...that was 'common sense'...to have 'common courtesy'.