Month: July 2014

Right now, and for the last 2 years or so, I have chosen to keep my “friends” list down to an absolute minimum. I made a very conscious choice to not add new friends on a whim, choosing instead to activate a setting that Facebook has to allow people to “follow” your updates, similar to the way Twitter and Google+ work. I like this, because it allows you to post things publicly (so that anybody in the world could see them. This is important to me as I have a very public internet persona.

You can see the settings page I’m referring to if you’re logged in to Facebook by visiting this link:

https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=followers.

I’ve used Facebook in this way for a couple of years now and I much prefer it to the “friends” paradigm. Since I activated this option, 26 people have requested my friendship, and have subsequently been automatically “subscribed” to any updates I post publicly (assuming they are “viral” enough to make it onto people’s news feeds). Since 99% of my posts are public or posted into various groups I use, this is a very good system for me.

I have complained loudly many times about how I have Facebook friends that I don’t talk to very much, or ever. I think that relationships change over time and that keeping a lean list of friends is important to avoid getting bogged down and unable to change. I have very strict control over what I see on Facebook, and as such I don’t get ANY game requests, I don’t see anything from Buzzfeed or Upworthy or anything of that nature. It’s worked out very well for me.

HOWEVER, here is where you come in…

I would be willing to reconsider my position and just allow everybody and anybody I meet to become my friends, if the people I trust (AKA you, if you’re reading this) think that I am missing something in the above analysis. If you are simply unable to steel yourself and trim your own Facebook friends list, but you applaud my work in that area, please let me know that too. I basically want to hear both sides, or any other opinions, if they are out there. 

I am very fond of my current social paradigm, but I would be willing to change if you guys can give me compelling reasons, and/or if the comments go overwhelmingly in that direction. I’m especially interested in hearing what you have to say if you saw this but are not friends with me, and especially if you’ve requested my friendship and are now stuck following me in limbo (sorry).

As you can see, I have both Google+ and Facebook comments visible on this post, so that you can leave comments wherever you want. I’m on your side, guys!