Social Media Posts

09Jan
0

Facebook Purge

So after my most recent post on Facebook Friend Collecting, I was asked to write a similar post for the Long Island Parent Source blog because Facebook is always an interesting topic.  (Which I will totally do, just as soon as I stop doing other things, which may be a while from now.)  But I thought you should know that my own post made me reconsider my friend-collecting habits… especially because I have to scroll through so much on my News Feed just to see something relevant.  So I took my 700+ Facebook friends and used a simple 2-question metric to see if they should remain or if we could amicably part:

1. Have I interacted with this person in the past 6 months or have they interacted with me?  (Meaning “liking” each other’s statuses or pictures, writing something on their Wall, etc.)

2. Are they still worth stalking or do I believe they enjoy stalking me?

It was very simple – if I answered “yes” to both questions, they remained.

So the breakups were not due to not liking people or thinking they’re unimportant, but mainly to keep myself a little more organized.  Especially with a blog and a business – I need to reach out to certain people and not feel like I’m bothering others… all that much.

So to the old boyfriends, sleepover camp friends and others who wish they got the boot but didn’t, it’s because I probably still stalk you.  Or I think your kids are adorable. Or your husband is adorable.  (Sorry.)  So if you’re still there and feel like I’m cluttering up YOUR life, feel free to make me a casualty of your self-reorganization process.  I don’t mind – I actually get it now.

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Posted by Dani in Social Media and tagged with , , ,
04Jan
9

Facebook and the Friend Collector

So I’m at my favorite type of playdate today – where both of my kids are the same age as both of her kids and we get an adult playdate at the same time.  She had lots of great stuff to catch me up on and I filled her in on Ryan’s anxiety/transient tic thing (I did promise a post on this… it will come) and the recent explosion of sales for Princessories, which I’m thrilled about.

We got to talking about some friends (and friends of friends) that we have in common because as I’ve mentioned before, everyone knows everyone within a 10 mile radius of where I live, or at least it seems that way.  The conversation naturally turned to Facebook and known “friend collectors”.

I cringed.

You see, I am totally guilty of “collecting” people over the years who have been part of the story of my life to see how they’re doing without having to be too much of an active friend.  After all, who has time to call hundreds of people and fit everyone into your life?  This is why I think Facebook is great!  I can look at cute pictures of their kids, see where they work, look at what has happened in their lives since we crossed paths and keep in touch through Wall posts or just look in silence.  I’m fairly certain I’m not the only person who does this and it never really bothered me.  But I do understand how it looks to people who only friend the people they talk to on a regular basis.  I also accept friend requests from anyone who sends me a request that I know.  After all, who am I to reject someone and make them feel badly?

Facebook is not an accurate reflection on my social life or of the people who I truly love and trust.  It really is a collection – a collection of all of the people who at one point held a piece of history with me – whether a brief moment, or a lifetime.  I love meeting new people.  It takes me a while to decide whether I want to pursue a friendship, but I just like chatting with people who I have things in common with.  I meet people everywhere from the supermarket to baby classes and most of the time, we end up as friends on Facebook as a way to stay connected.  I also want to share pictures of my kids or funny stories – I’m somewhere in-between posting every time I sneeze and posting only when I give birth.  Facebook is also an important tool for my blog and business – I update all three of my pages regularly to keep everything fresh in people’s minds.

How do you use Facebook (if at all)?  Does my defense of friend collecting make sense?

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Posted by Dani in Social Media and tagged with , , ,
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