Why Would You Unfriend Someone On A Social Networking Site
This post was written thanks to a number of Plurk friends!
I’ve posted a related piece on Su Comments about building online friendships.
This post came about because of a plurk by Rantz Alot about why people would want to unfriend others on social media sites.
Again, the things that get people offside are spam, constant moaning, not answering messages, and filling the timeline with garbage.
What I loved about Rantz’s plurk that a lot of the people who took part in the discussion are not linked to me as Plurk friends.
This means that the chances of them having seen the questions that I asked are slim.
People Use Social Media Sites To Interact!
Whether we are talking about Facebook, Myspace or Pownce, the message is the same.
Treat people with the respect that they deserve, or lose their friendship.
To me, social media hell would be to be a member of a site where nobody wants to know you!
People are there to interact, get to know others, learn and just have a good time.
They aren’t there to have so called marketers keep feeding them links to their websites.
Have a great weekend
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Allan, this is great advice. Regardless of whether people are using social networking sites like Powne, Plurk, Friendfeed, Twitter or Facebook, the purpose of participating is to build relationships with other bloggers.
My personal favorite is Twitter and then Friendfeed. I was on Plurk briefly, but ultimately decided to delete my account because I didn’t have the time to devote to it and have the time I needed to write posts too.
I’ve always been of the mindset that we have to Give to Get, and that is why my favorite thing to do is provide the tiny url’s to blog posts (not my own) that are interesting and engaging, and would likely be of interest to others on my follow list.
I personally unfriend someone or unfollow someone on Twitter because they constantly b**** and moan about one thing or another, cuss and swear repeatedly, don’t respond to messages, bully other bloggers on social media sites and the like. All in all, social networking sites are there for us all to get to know one another on a more personal level than simply commenting on each other’s blogs.
Lin Burresss last blog post..The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year Audiobook Random Drawing
Hi Allan,
I sometimes unfriend people for the many of the reasons you’ve already mentioned … the main one being that they spam the site.
That being said, sometimes I’ve also unfriended people through absolutely no fault of their own. For instance, I’ve had times on Twitter where I just automatically followed people who followed me. I’ve since become a bit more judicious.
I do agree though, that the primary goal of any of these site should be to gain a better connection that might be possible just though blog comments.
Todd
Todd Morriss last blog post..How To Make An Online Dream Board
G’day Lin,
Thanks for the comment.
Shame that you feel that way about Plurk, especially when you have so much to offer folks there, but that’s the way it goes.
Some people just can’t seem to understand that social networking is about social, and done the right way, will result in extra traffic anyway as people get to know you on the site, be it Blogcatalog, Facebook or where ever.
Constantly advertising, and carrying on with cussing or moaning are guaranteed to have me reaching for the delete button too.
Cheers,
Allan
G’day Todd,
It sounds like we’re singing from the same song book! Nice to meet you here!
Allan
Allan,
To me it depends on the network.
On Facebook, I will accept most friend invitations but if I start seeing feeds that I am not ok with then I will remove them from my friend list, My thinking is to avoid any guilt by association.
The other reason I remove friends from my list is excessive invitations and excessive emails. It would be nice if I had nothing else to do but respond to these requests so if someone is too high maintenance then I cut ties. Friendships shouldn’t be stressful.
On Twitter, I will reciprocate most follows but will remove myself from any feeds that are not providing any useful information. But I will usually give every feed a chance.
The other thing that gets me thinking about ending a social network friendship is lack of reciprocation. If you ask me to review your feeds, blog, tags (whatever) and I do so but you don’t take the time to review my stuff then I consider you a leech and not a true friend.
Good blog post, the topic is very apropos for the times.
Regards,
Jon Lyles