Internet users have worked together to dictate common ways of interacting with each other, despite the anonymity the Internet sometimes allows.

In the early-to-mid 2000’s–during the infancy of social media–early adopters of sites like Facebook and MySpace also found themselves using the sites to their advantage.

As more and more users became active, it was again the ways that users interacted with each other that dictated what was appropriate, or not, unlike age-old social norms that we simply grew up with.

As social media transformed from a “wild west” type atmosphere, there was no clear cut etiquette for users. But a decade or so later, there is one; at least a loose collection of agreed-upon manners of interacting that is often skirted by those seeking to remain anonymous, for whatever reason that may be.

Somewhere between 2005 and 2014, social media activity for businesses went from a way to show that a particular company was on the cutting edge of what society demanded, to an absolute necessity.

While singular users could use the sites for whatever reason they may, a business had to use social media with transparency first and foremost in mind.

Along with this transparency, and the interaction that is the cornerstone of social media, businesses had to understand that customers were less likely to respond if the content they were seeing was related to a sales pitch, making social media strategies for business more than tricky, and less than certain.

In this infographic, we discuss the role social media should play for businesses, and explain what is appropriate behavior on the most popular social media websites.

It’s an interesting study of what can be accomplished on social media, and how customers–and potential customers–respond to different strategies via social media.

Jennifer Landry was born and raised in Malibu, California.  She went to Malibu High School and Pepperdine University, where she met her future husband, David Landry Jr.  They now live in Venice with 3 kids.