If you have used social media long enough, you have surely experienced a few head-shaking moments when you see a Facebook post or a tweet and say to yourself: “What were they thinking?!” So, in the hope of avoiding some of the more common ones, here are a few things you should avoid when you are using social media -

Making Private Messages Public
Whether you are sending a DM on Twitter or a private message on Facebook, make sure it only reaches its intended audience.

Using Social Media To Drum Up Business
Talking about your work and making it obvious what you do for a living is fine, but shamelessly trawling your friends and followers for clients is a no-no.Facebook has Pages and Twitter has sponsored links, for this purpose.

Engaging With The Haters
Never reply to the message sent by a person you hate much. Haters always wait for a response. As soon as you respond, they win (as you open the door for even more abuse). Delete, block, and get on with the rest of your life, while they try and get a life of their own.

Over-sharing
Social media offers us a wonderful opportunity to share our everyday experiences but, as in the real world, some things are just better left unsaid!

Extremist Views
Never criticize any political party or its activist, any religion, or race. Live and let live should be the motto of the social media age.

Being Too Narcissistic
Let’s face it, maintaining a public social media account is all about self-promotion. For the most part, we want other people to know what great lives we lead. Why else we would care about the number of friends or followers? Remember, the idea of constantly posting new profile pictures and other assorted ‘selfies’ and then trawling for Likes smacks of a little too much self-love! This won't even win you any fans, buddy.