If I know you only online and you have been my friend on Facebook, I thank you… but I had to break up with you.
Pick your break-up line…
It’s not you – it’s me.
It wasn’t personal, honest.
It’s not that I’m just not that into you.
I’ve been going through some stuff.
Actually – it’s Facebook that’s been going through some stuff. They kept changing how information is displayed and while some people loved the changes, I hated them.
I couldn’t keep up with my almost 500 friends anymore. Between the Facebook-Twitter Echo Effect and the ridiculous way that Facebook displayed content, I felt like I was missing everything important from the few local friends and family members I was following on the site.
I complained a lot about the Facebook changes and I genuinely tried to figure out ways to make the system work for me but finally, I decided I had to reclaim Facebook as a personal connection tool and drop it as a way of staying in touch with my online business friends.
Enter the Break Up. In one evening I went through and broke up with everyone in Facebook – everyone except those I know personaly. This was tough – there are certainly a lot of people I’ve met online that I consider to be dear personal friends. But rather than risk hurting anyone’s feelings – I drew the line firmly around those I’ve met in ‘real life’.
I’m already enjoying Facebook so much more now that I can focus on keeping tabs on those closest to me.
I announced my decision on Twitter and let my friends know that I’ve chosen Twitter for my main social network and to please not be concerned when they notice that I’m not their friend on Facebook anymore. So far, everyone has been great and totally understanding.
How are you managing Facebook?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
I am with you on this one. I have a few personal friends & relatives that I keep up with on Facebook – occasionally – otherwise I don’t even bother. Too much going on there that was just time-consuming and not at all fun… Never even got into the business side actively – couldn’t see the value of jumping in…
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May 20th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I actually deactivated my whole Facebook account. It was connecting me with people I’d rather forget and not bringing new contacts that I wanted.
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May 22nd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I have actually kept facebook personal too. I can’t spend much time on it though.
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May 26th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I noticed quite a few people taking facebook back as a personal thing and I’ve done the same. I think I am still friends w/ a handful of those I only “know” online, but I’m okay with that for now.
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May 26th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I’m new to boh Twitter and Facebook, and I’ve quickly realized that facebook is more about keeping in touch with close friends and family and Twitter is more for social networking. I love them both for different reasons, and I’m glad that I didn’t know Facebook before the changes, otherwise, I might have stoppe FBing.
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May 27th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Wow Kelly.
When I first got a Facebook profile, it was totally for online business networking. Then my old friends, people I hadn’t seen since my teen years, started to find me. I felt weird about trying to combine the two. Would business contacts think it unseemly if I updated about personal things?
So I started doing only personal stuff on FB, but I’ve felt funny about unfriending business contacts. You just gave me the courage to go ahead and do it. And I agree about the updates – it’s confusing and overwhelming. It’s a little easier using my phone’s app for FB, but still – Thanks for this post :)
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May 28th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I started using Facebook as a way to check up on some old high school friends because it seemed fun but once that fad ran it’s course I really had no more interest in FB for personal OR business.
Sometimes I have real-life friend invite me to parties in FB and wonder why I didn’t respond, lol. I just don’t even try to manage or use it. I dunno, all those apps drove me crazy from the beginning, it was like a big huge spam place. Guess you could say I’m no fan of facebook and I’ve never used it for biz.
So no problem breaking up with me – I didn’t even notice! lol
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