Like it or not we live in a Facebook kind of world. There are so many wonderful advantages to social media from information sharing to connectivity. Everyone's Facebook page is exactly that: their own page on which to post silly pet pictures, inspirational quotes, political statements or whatever they see fit. But sometimes the cyber world takes over and reality gets blurry. Let's bring it back in check, shall we?

The Ten Commandments of Facebook

I am Facebook, the King of all social media.

I haven't figured out all the others so I just stick with Facebook. If someone wants to explain the rest to me, I'm a curious student.

Thou shalt read the post in its entirety before commenting.

I recently posted a joke about buying cat food at Target for a diet. I instantly saw a comment questioning buying pet food at a big box store rather than locally. I do think she eventually read it all the way through as the comment disappeared moments later, but you get the point.

Thou shalt read all the comments before posting yours.

Again, if there are a lot of comments on one post, it is probably best to thoroughly read them all before adding your comment. It's like echoing a Jeopardy contestant after the question has already been answered.

Remember to fact check before sharing.

This one is particularly valid in the equine and pet communities with rescue animals. I wholeheartedly support rescues but some of these tales of neglect are seriously outdated and misinformed. I should also add that Facebook should not be used to spread gossip. A bad rumor can ignite a wildfire with 12 views and 3 shares.

Honor thy privacy policy.

This is a no brainer. Don't hack someone's account or post/forward things they intentionally haven't without permission. Remember, these are your "friends".

Thou shalt not make comments that you would not say directly to someone's face, bully or intentionally commit mean spirited cyber acts.

This is probably the most important of all the commandments. Please don't hide behind your glass keyboards when typing stones. Negative and intentionally hurtful acts are not constructive and potentially destructive to many. Just don't do it.

Thou shalt not poke strangers.

This is just creepy and gives me chills. It makes me think of predatory types that hang around playgrounds. Ick.

Thou shalt check and reread statuses before posting.

I am guilty of this one. Recently I posted something about stud piles completely innocently after cleaning my horse's stalls. After a comment or two I re-read it, blushed and deleted it before I was reported for inappropriate sexual content. Just when you think you are being clever, you look at your statement through different eyes and laugh at your own stupidity.

Thou shalt keep one's game apps to thy selves.

Ok, this one we may not have control over, but we do have the control to unfollow the gamer and block app if we find offensive.

Thou shalt not stalk.

I don't find any harm in not using your real name if you are worried about privacy, but creating entire aliases can be a little weird. Hasn't anyone seen Catfish? If you are simply looking at the content of your friend's page, that's not stalking, after all, what you post is there for all your connections to see.