Wife, mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother F. M. Meredith, who is also known as Marilyn
Meredith, is nearing a staggering 40 published books. Though the Rocky Bluff
she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar
small beach town. Many of her family and friends are in law enforcement, giving
her plenty of resources when researching her books. Learn more about F.M. at
her website and blog. Today she joins us with some very important advice about
social media in general and Facebook in particular.
Big Mistakes People
Make Using Facebook
Facebook is great! I post on it first thing in the morning
and often several times during the day.
I have lots of friends and love reading what they are doing,
how they think, and seeing photos of them, their children and grandchildren and
their activities. However, I also see things they should never put on Facebook.
Never, never complain about your job or your co-workers and
most especially not your boss. Even if your boss or none of your co-workers are
your friends on Facebook, a comment you or someone else makes on the post could
be sent to someone you didn’t want to see what you said. I’ve known people
who’ve lost their job because of this.
The same goes for telling about your heavy drinking or
picking up someone of the opposite sex, or revealing too much about your love
life. Jobs have been lost over
this—the boss finds out you aren’t the person he/she thought you were.
Don’t complain about your spouse or make fun of him or her publicly
unless it’s kind-hearted jesting. Even if your spouse doesn’t do Facebook, someone
will be sure to tell him or her about the unflattering or demeaning remarks.
Unless you want to get rid of your spouse, don’t do this.
Authors, try your best not to misspell or use bad grammar in
your posts or when you’re blogging. I’ve been guilty of it—I know that even
when you proofread, mistakes are overlooked. If you find something has slipped
by you, fix it, or if you can’t fix it, acknowledge it.
Also for authors, don’t bad-mouth your industry
professionals publicly. They all know each other and you might not have such an
easy time finding a new one if you become known as a troublesome writer.
Don’t write nasty stuff about people who don’t believe the
same way you do, whether it’s politics or religion. You can’t convince anyone
to change to your way of thinking by a post you write on Facebook, and chances
are you may alienate half your friends.
Since I put all these negative things down, here are a few
things I think you should do:
Write positive posts when possible. If you’re going through
hard times or going to have an operation or are sick, it’s fine to ask for
prayers. I do it a lot for people, usually for relatives —though there are
times it may be better not to identify the person by name.
It’s fine to tell what you’re doing, where you’re going,
what’s happening while you’re there—and yes, include photos. (Anastasia
stepping in here: It’s never a good idea to post where you are when you’re away
from home. People have come home from vacation or a night out to find their
house has been robbed because they let the world know they weren’t home.) Personally,
I love to know what people are cooking or ordering in restaurants. Tell me
about your kids accomplishments and the new babies that are born.
I write a lot about what I plan to do for the day because it
helps me to actually do it.
Writers, I do want to hear about your new book, great
reviews you’ve received, places you’re going to be for book signings and other
appearances.
What kind of posts do you not like to see on Facebook? What do you like?
Contest: Once again, the person who comments on the most
blogs during this tour, can have a character named after them in the next Rocky
Bluff P.D. mystery. Tomorrow you can find me here:
A Crushing Death
A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the
condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police
chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for violent attacks on women,
and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has a problem.

