THE CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE

Netiquette is described as the rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over
computer networks, especially the Internet. As a daily user of the internet, It is important to
know the 10 main core rules of netiquette so that you will have the basic knowledge on how
you’ll act, post and talk in a certain way since you’re dealing with different kinds of people on
the internet.

Here are the core rules of netiquette that you should keep in mind!!

RULE #1: REMEMBER THE HUMAN.

 REMEMBER AND NEVER EVER FORGET that the person reading your mail or
posting is, indeed, a person, with feelings that can be hurt. It is not nice to hurt other
person’s feelings, Never mail or post anything you wouldn’t say to your reader’s face,
be always mindful of what you’re posting because the readers may be affected by it and
it’s easy to be misinterpreted online by your correspondent if things aren’t said in a
proper way and lastly notify your readers when flaming.

RULE #2: ADHERE TO THE SAME STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR ONLINE THAT YOU
FOLLOW IN REAL LIFE.

 Standards of behavior may be different in some areas of cyberspace, but they are not
lower than in real life. It is important to follow rules and have a proper behavior online.
It doesn’t mean that even if you’re just a human being on the other side of the internet
you can act in an improper way (Like Plagiarizing,Bashing,Hating and bullying etc).
Most people think that the chances of getting caught sometimes seem slim and they
also think that a lower standard of ethics or personal behavior is acceptable in
cyberspace.Always be ethical and follow certain rules (never break the law! you
wouldn’t wanna be in jail for an act that you’ve commited online!) Always be careful!

RULE #3: KNOW WHERE YOU ARE IN CYBERSPACE.

 What’s perfectly acceptable in one area may be dreadfully rude in another.Always

know where you are online and always be mindful of your thoughts before making
decisions and posts.Lurk before you leap, When you enter a domain of cyberspace
that’s new to you, take a look around. Spend a while listening to the chat or reading the
archives. Get a sense of how the people who are already there act. Then go ahead and
participate!

RULE #4: RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE’S TIMES AND BANDWIDTH.

 Time is gold they say not just in real life but also in the web.When you send email or
post to a discussion group, you’re taking up other people’s time (or hoping to). It’s your
responsibility to ensure that the time they spend reading your posting isn’t wasted and
it’s very important to carry an information that has sense and its useful to the
correspondent so that no time is wasted reading an article that is irrelevant. Wake up!
You are not the center of cyberspace., it’s easy to forget that other people have concerns
other than yours. So don’t expect instant responses to all your questions, and don’t
 assume that all readers will agree with or care about your passionate arguments and
lastly never forget the rules of a discussion group.

RULE #5: MAKE YOURSELF LOOK GOOD ONLINE.

 Take advantage of your anonymity. This means that in the world at large, most people
who communicate online just want to be liked. Social Networks, discussion groups and
etc let you reach out to people you’d otherwise never meet in real life face to face. And
none of them can see you. You won’t be judged by the color of your skin, eyes, or hair,
your weight, your age, or your clothing and always know what you’re talking about and
it should make sense of course. Bad information spreads like wildfire on the net. And
once it’s been through two or three iterations, you get the same distortion effect.
Whatever you originally said may be unrecognizable since it can be edited into
something way worse. So, always just be yourself and produce quality posts! always
speak with your heart and mind even if it’s hard!

RULE #6: SHARE EXPERT KNOWLEDGE.

 The reason asking questions online works is that a lot of knowledgeable people are
reading the questions.The internet itself grew because the creators of it wanted to share
information. Do your part, share what you know and never be afraid to speak your mind
because you’ll never know how much help can you give to the other corrrespondents
or readers of your post.

RULE #7: HELP KEEP FLAME WARS UNDER CONTROL.

 Flaming can be defined as what people do when they express a strongly held opinion
without holding back any emotion. It’s the kind of message that makes people
respond. Netiquette does forbid the perpetuation of flame wars. Series of angry letters,
most of them from two or three people directed toward each other, that can dominate
the tone and destroy the camaraderie of a discussion group. It’s unfair to the other
members of the group. And while flame wars can initially be amusing, they get boring
very quickly to people who aren’t involved in them.

RULE #8: RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE’S PRIVACY.

 Failing to respect other people’s privacy is a very bad Netiquette. We (Internet users)
should know how to respect other people’s private lives. There’s always a reason why
it is private, we should all learn how to respect each other’s privacy.

RULE #9: DON’T ABUSE YOUR POWER.

 Some people in the cyberspace have more power than others. Knowing more than
others, or having more power than they do, does not give you the right to take advantage
of them.

RULE #10: BE FORGIVING OF OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES.

 Nobody is perfect. When someone makes a mistake whether it’s a spelling error or a
spelling flame, a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer — be kind about it.
 If it’s a minor error, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about
it, think twice before reacting. Having good manners yourself doesn’t give you license
to correct everyone else.If you do decide to inform someone of a mistake, point it out
politely, and preferably by private email rather than in public. Give people the benefit
of the doubt; assume they just don’t know any better. And never be arrogant or self-
righteous about it.

THAT IS ALL. NEVER EVER FORGET TO PUT THESE DIFFERENT CORE RULES IN
MIND!!!! IT WILL BENEFIT YOU IN THE FUTURE.

SOURCE:

The Core Rules of Netiquette. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2015, from
http://www.albion.com/bookNetiquette/0963702513p32.html

The Core Rules of Netiquette — Summary

Rule 1. Remember the human.

Never forget that the person reading your mail or posting is, indeed, a person, with feelings
that can be hurt.

Corollary 1 to Rule #1: It's not nice to hurt other people's feelings.

Corollary 2: Never mail or post anything you wouldn't say to your reader's face.

Corollary 3: Notify your readers when flaming.

Rule 2. Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.

Corollary 1: Be ethical.

Corollary 2: Breaking the law is bad Netiquette.

Rule 3. Know where you are in cyberspace.

Corollary 1: Netiquette varies from domain to domain.

Corollary 2: Lurk before you leap.

Rule 4. Respect other people's time and bandwidth.

Corollary 1: It's OK to think that what you're doing at the moment is the most important thing
in the universe, but don't expect anyone else to agree with you.

Corollary 2: Post messages to the appropriate discussion group.

Corollary 3: Try not to ask stupid questions on discussion groups.

Corollary 4: Read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document.

Corollary 5: When appropriate, use private email instead of posting to the group.

Corollary 6: Don't post subscribe, unsubscribe, or FAQ requests.

Corollary 7: Don't waste expert readers' time by posting basic information.

Corollary 8: If you disagree with the premise of a particular discussion group, don't waste the
time and bandwidth of the members by telling them how stupid they are. Just stay away.

Corollary 9: Conserve bandwidth when you retrieve information from a host or server.

Rule 5. Make yourself look good online.

Corollary 1: Check grammar and spelling before you post.

Corollary 2: Know what you're talking about and make sense.

Corollary 3: Don't post flame-bait.

Rule 6. Share expert knowledge.

Corollary 1: Offer answers and help to people who ask questions on discussion groups.

Corollary 2: If you've received email answers to a posted question, summarize them and post
the summary to the discussion group.

Rule 7. Help keep flame wars under control.

Corollary 1: Don't respond to flame-bait.

Corollary 2: Don't post spelling or grammar flames.

Corollary 3: If you've posted flame-bait or perpetuated a flame war, apologize.

Rule 8. Respect other people's privacy.

Don't read other people's private email.

Rule 9. Don't abuse your power.

The more power you have, the more important it is that you use it well.

Rule 10. Be forgiving of other people's mistakes.

You were a network newbie once too!

SOCIAL MEDIA AS AN INSTRUMENT
FOR CHANGE
First of all, What is Social Media? Social media is the collective of online communications
channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.
Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking , social
bookmarking, social curation, and wikis are among the different types of social media. Do you
have Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr ? If you do….. i bet you have came across hashtags that
promote change,cause,campaign, activism and many more!

Social Media has become a very powerful

medium to us netizens around the world! It is not only used anymore to keep in touch with
friends, sharing photos + videos and jokes but it has been used as a force for change. Social
Media promotes awareness to users on issues that are still unknown about, makes way for
meaningful conversations and empowering the people in the internet to be united and enable
change in different ways that will benefit all of us. Examples of the Hashtags that changed the
world with just one click or one share to promote change and awareness!

1. #IceBucketChallenge raised record-breaking funds for the ALSA ($115 million since
July 29) thanks to the grassroots awareness campaign which went viral, proving that a
bucket of ice water has the means to warm people’s hearts and loosen their purse
strings.For anyone who lived under a rock in 2014, the ALS Challenge was a viral
campaign by the The ALS Association, which fights Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. People would either donate $100 to
the charity or dump a bucket of ice water on themselves. They would then nominate
others to do the same in their video. This led to an explosion of videos and donations
for the organization. Even if more people were concerned with watching funny videos
and dumping water on their friends than they were about ALS research, the campaign
did generate a large amount of awareness and funding. Since July 29, 2014, The ALS
Association received more than $115 million in donations!

#ArabSpring brought attention to protests and unrest in countries from Tunisia to Syria,
uniting those ready to take action in hopes of a new order. The “Arab Spring” uprisings in
Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, have proven that social media can be used to transform society and
politics on a global scale. These uprisings used social media to organize protests, highlight
injustices and government crackdowns, and sway public opinion at home and abroad. The
effects spread to other nations, as even now, several nations in the Middle East find the status
quo challenged by youths and social activists who use social media to rally others to their cause.
In response, some countries have tried, often unsuccessfully, to limit access to social media
sites, but these efforts just go to prove the staying power of the internet and social media as a
tool for social change.

3.#Ferguson called for awareness of police brutality and the racial divide in Missouri. The
story might not have come to many folks’ attention save for the hashtag which caused people
to follow events as they unfolded on social media, blogging, sharing and talking about it all.

4. #DelhiGangRape brought the culture of violence and rape in India into the spotlight,
effecting changes in the law and in sexual education in the country. The events also inspired
playwright Eve Ensler to start One Billion Rising, a global campaign dedicated to ending
violence, and demanding change and justice for women.While recent occurrences of gang rape
in India show the problem is far from solved, #WakeUpAkhilesh has become a rallying cry to
hold Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,
accountable to his constituents. The fight for change continues.

5.
#PrayforthePhilippines trended around the world when Typhoon Yolanda left the Philippines
in a state of Calamity. Through this hashtag, People around the world became aware of the
tragedy that happened. People mostly sent donations and prayers for the country. Social Media
gave way to Natural Disaster Responses, The speed of social media has changed the way we
learn about and respond to natural disasters. After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti,
nonprofits used social media to mobilize rescue efforts and to support the community. This
also saw the deployment of one of the most successful text-to-donate campaigns seen at the
time. Similarly, when earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan on Mar. 11, 2011, millions around
the globe to used social media to search for family and friends, as well as get updates on a
situation that was very frightening at the time, given the damage to the nuclear reactor.
Similarly, in a recent New York area earthquake, residents were receiving tweets from the
epicenter of the event before the tremors had reach them. The Red Cross in particular has
become very good as using social media to organize volunteers and solicit donations for relief
work.

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 One of the most powerful aspects of social media is that it provides an environment and
a medium for people to express themselves independently, and yet find community.
This “hashtag unity,” to coin a term, is as real and as powerful as a group of people
physically gathered in the same space. It can educate, heal and provoke change by sheer
strength of vocal numbers.

REMEMBER: It’s important for us to seek out and boost the causes that mean the most to us.
To shine that spotlight, to educate and be part of that hashtag unity. We should take action
where we can, but sometimes simply guiding the action of others is enough. “Share this story,
sign this petition, recognize that this is happening and be part of the chorus of voices demanding
change.” It’s not always in our power to do much more than that, but when enough of us band
together, we can convince those with the power to create solutions to act.

SOURCES:http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media
http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/6-ways-social-media-changed-the-world.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ritusharma/power-of-social-media-dem_b_6103222.html