WhatsApp can be a useful tool for communication, however, some people seem to need a crash course on how to use it properly.
It all starts off as a brilliant idea: a number of people with something in common decide that they need to stay in constant communication with each other. It can be friends or colleagues or residents from the same complex and even family members.
These days, even professional association of blessers and blesses use the tool. I am of course referring to WhatsApp groups.
A family member – who is part of a residential WhatsApp group that also includes the South African Police Service – recently received what we may refer to as an error of Biblical proportions.
You see, one of the participants mistakenly sent a 10-minute long pornography clip to the group. (Of course, everyone on the group first watched the entire clip, and only then complained about its contents.)
Like you, I am part of a number of groups, and again like you, I have also mistakenly sent a message to the wrong group. At this stage, this is where I ask myself why the messenger’s developers have not yet come up with a recall button.
Facebook has learnt from this, as we have a few seconds after posting to edit or delete the post.
With the powers vested in me by The Citizen newspaper, I declare the following universal WhatsApp group rules:
- Use common sense. Observe the initial reason why the group was set up in the first place. If it is for work purposes, keep it to that. Not everyone appreciates prayers and not everyone has the same sense of humour as you.
- Be aware of time. There are very few instances that warrant sending a message at inappropriate times of the day. Telling your colleagues that you are unable to make it to work due to a sick pet is acceptable. Doing this at 2.30am is not.
- Do not argue over petty issues. So what if you disagree with a family member being pregnant with their seventh child, and with seven unidentified fathers? And who really cares if that wayward cousin has gone “missing” yet again. This is not Utatakho nor is it Khumbulekhaya.
- Know the definition of a group. Do not only constantly refer to one person, as this does not fit the definition of the word “group”. Letting your supervisor know that you do not agree with his management style is just not cool.
- For the love of all things good, do not post those lame forwarded messages. “Forward this message to 10 people within three minutes and you will see: absolutely nothing will happen.”
- Repeat rule number one.
Source : Citizen
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