Pal, Buddy, Chum . . . Life-Long Friend . . . Confirmed?

150+ friend requests—in one day?!  <ROTFL>  T’is [astonishingly] true.

Some requestors had a mutual friend, others had six, and a few had none.  I’d mentioned this to an acquaintance and she said it could be a scam.  In what way could friending be “a scam”?  I lean toward naïve and prefer to believe the better of people, so when there’s a request to friend someone, I’m thinking it’s okay.

In retrospect, however, I do recall a couple of Twitter episodes—two guys instantly proclaimed their love for me.  Uh-huh.  I’m a decent/nice gal, but I’m not that lovable.  <LOL>

Perpetually curious, I Googled about friending.  Research netted similar advice—do not friend:

♦   friends of friends that you don’t know (rather like selecting strangers, wouldn’t you say?)     ♦   someone you’re not comfortable with (he/she doesn’t transmit “good vibes”)     ♦   individuals who may not be interested in, or at ease with, your content.

Liveabout.com advises there are four types of people you should never friend:

♦   exes (perish the thought)    ♦   bosses, coworkers, clients (oh-oh)    ♦   strangers (makes sense—and obviously I have none)    ♦   acquaintances.

Incidentally, LiveAbout is a rather cool site.  The folks there believe that “free time matters”.  In fact, their site features “a lovable jumble of urban legends, sports history, and esoteric trivia that you can lose yourself in for hours” . . . with writers who are “experts and professionals in their fields”.

I digress.  Back to friending and following.  There is a difference by the by.  When you add someone as a friend, you automatically follow him/her (as he/she does you).  You’ll see each other’s posts.  When you follow someone you’re not friends with, you’ll see their public posts.

I still have 100+ potential friends to confirm (more arrive every day).  Before I do so, however, I’m going to do that due diligence I’ve often recommended.  If you’re in a similar situation, do the same.

When you receive a request, verify the mutual friend(s) by selecting the view [“see what you have in common with XYZ’s friends] button.  Check out the requestor’s profile.  If anything looks sketchy, do not confirm that friend request.

If you’ve hastily friended someone (like yours truly) and determine you’d rather not continue the “relationship” (like yours truly), you can unfollow the individual, as opposed to unfriending him/her.

And if you’re thinking of submitting a friend request, it wouldn’t hurt to send the person a quick message before you do.  Don’t be offended if someone doesn’t respond to your request.  He/she undoubtedly has a valid reason for doing so, such as wanting to keep the friend list small/manageable.

Given I enjoy researching and always learn a few new things, there’ll likely be friend/FB etiquette “reminder” post in the next wee while.

Until the next time . . . my friends.

Author: tylerus

I'm primarily a writer of fiction and blog posts, and a sometimes editor and proofreader of books, manuals, and film/television scripts. Fact-checking and researching, organizing and coordinating are skills and joys (I enjoy playing detective and developing structure). My fiction audience: lovers of female-sleuth mysteries. My genres of preference: mysteries (needless to say), women’s fiction, informative and helpful “affirmative” non-fiction. So-o, here I am, staring up a new blog for aspiring and established e-Book writers. The plan: to share the (long) journey of getting to this stage, and share "learnings" and "teachings". There's a lot I hope to accomplish with this blog, but it may be a while before that happens as there's a lot on the ol' plate - taking care of Mom, working full-time, and attempting to get another book in the Triple Threat Investigation Agency series written (never mind blog postings and other writing projects). It's very challenging and it's all good. As I like to say: teeny focused baby steps are just as effective as long forceful strides. It may take a little longer, but we will get there. View all posts by tylerus