It’s taken nine long months, you’ve been through all of the ups and downs of pregnancy, the physical and emotional rollercoaster that has pushed you to your limits, and then finally your baby arrives.
You’ve been dreaming of the moment that you can announce the arrival to the world, only to log onto your social media feed to public messages of congratulations. Your phone begins buzzing with people congratulating you on the news they’ve just discovered via someone else’s announcement on Facebook.
The very announcement that should have been yours to make.
In a day and age where social media is part of most of our daily lives, the social media announcement, or reveal of any major life event is an exciting one. Social media helps us to keep in contact with friends and family that live in different parts of the world, or those acquaintances that may have been lost along the way otherwise.
The social media announcement of these major events is often the second or third ‘tier’ in our announcement schedule. This may seem strange to many of the ‘older generations’, but for those of us, who’ve had Facebook as a fixture in our lives for the better part of our adulthood, it’s just the norm.
Back in 2012 after almost 12 months of trying to fall pregnant, my husband and I finally had some exciting news. We’ve never been ones to wait until the magical 12-week mark to tell our immediate family, so of course; they were privy to our news almost immediately.
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A family member just had a baby on Saturday. They had chosen not to post anything about the pregnancy on Facebook. So I made sure not to make any comments, tags, or shares that would have given it away. Anything I wanted to share was done via private message.
They did announce the birth on Facebook and post pictures. At that point, I knew it was safe to comment on their wall. And we didn't post pictures we took of our daughter with the baby until we got permission. It's not that difficult to be respectful to the wishes of others..
I think this also applies to the other end of life, no social media posts until the family have made their post, just as it is with the the death notices in the paper, the family notice is always first.
I found out my grandfather died because my cousin posted on her public Instagram page. I swear she posted as soon as she got the phone call. I was livid.