It’s tempting to announce everything that crosses your mind when -thanks to smartphones- you can access your Facebook profile from almost anywhere. Yet for the sake of your personal relationships, resist the temptation. Some habits in particular cost you friends, or at the very least, cause them to block you from their news feeds.
Here are 6 reasons why you might be losing Facebook friends:
1- You post too much
Signs: Your profile shows several statuses per hour, or at least one every couple of hours. Few of them have comments or likes because your friends can’t keep up with your pace.
Fix: Posts about the mundane are fine until your profile becomes a play-by-play. As a general rule, if it isn’t funny, helpful or exciting, it doesn’t deserve a status.
2- No one knows what you’re talking about
Signs: Questions like, “What happened?” and simply “?” are often the first comments on your statuses. Friends sometimes respond in kind with comments like, “I know, right?”
Fix: Don’t make people beg for details. Skip the questions and post the answer as your status.
3- No one’s sure who you’re talking about
Signs: You regularly use your statuses to express that you’re mad at “someone” for doing “something,” but you never name anyone. Friends apologise just in case, or they tell you to calm down without asking questions.
Fix:Deal with the person in question directly, not on Facebook for the world to see. Angry statuses don’t solve anything and you may regret them later.
4- Nothing is about you
Signs: Few of the pictures you’re tagged in are actually of you; they’re of cartoon characters, inanimate objects and other people. No one can tell what you look like, or much about you, from viewing your profile.
Fix: Edit your profile so that it revolves less around fictional characters and inside jokes and more around you. At the very least, upload a recent photo of yourself.
5- You don’t respond to anything
Signs: Your profile shows more activity from your friends than from you. Questions on your photos, statuses and wall go unanswered.
Fix:Treat Facebook comments like regular conversation – speak when spoken to. Disable comments if you use Facebook primarily to see what your friends are doing.
6- You forward everything
Signs: Several of your recent statuses end with the phrase, “Post this as your status if you agree” (or something similar). Few of your friends have re-posted them.
Fix:Do a quick Google search to see whether the claims in a status are true before you repost it. Thousands of people may have posted it before you, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.
Summary
Following the above tips may not win back your old Facebook friends, but it will help preserve your current friend list. Post this article to your profile if you find it funny, helpful or exciting (but please, don’t post it to tell someone that he or she does something that’s on the list!).
Have you culled your Facebook friends list recently? What was the reason? (seeing this blog post in your feed doesn’t count!) Share below…
