The Golden Rule of Online Communication: THINK

Online communication is instant, wide reaching and difficult to retract. A couple of seconds re-reading your post, thinking about the photo or running the worst-case scenario through your head can save you a lot of real-life pain. Before you hit send, upload or post, stop for a minute and consider the following:

True?

Is what your posting online true? Posting false information on social media can lead to many problems.

Hurtful?

Emoticons are everywhere for a reason. It's hard to convey your tone of voice - how you are saying something - online. Comments that are meant to be sarcastic, witty, tongue-in-cheek, funny, even constructively critical, all rely a lot on context and can be misinterpreted online. Read it back before you post it and if it's not clear, try again or hit delete and consider speaking to the person on the phone or in person instead. 

Illegal?

If Police see evidence of illegal activity in a video, photos, or on a mobile phone they can use it in court as evidence.

Necessary?

It's important to think about how much information you're sharing with strangers. You wouldn't stand in the street and hand out cards to everyone with your name, your photo, your address, school or university and favorite band on it - don't do the same thing online. 

Kind?

If you wouldn't say it to someone's face, don't post it on his or her wall.