The Facebook 3-Strike Rule
I’ve blogged about Facebook etiquette before, and have since gotten a bit lax with my denial of random would-be friends who don’t give me any reason to know who they are or why we should be connected. Well, my laziness has come back to bite me in the tush, so I’m putting a stop to it and introducing the Facebook 3-Strike Rule. With me?
Lately on my Facebook account – and I know I’m not alone – I’ve been getting tons of requests to join this cause that has nothing to do with me or my life experience, to be a fan of that brand I’ve never heard of, or to attend an event for some acoustic guitar performance in a town 500 miles away put on by some guy who knew a girl I may have taken a class with my junior year of high school… No thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Facebook enemies “friends“ who engage in this kind of Fb invite spam: cut the crap, please.
And to help with the crap cutting, here’s what I propose. If you invite me to join your page, group, game, app, quiz, etc., three times (um, clearly I rejected the first two invitations, genius, and I’m not interested), I’ll be de-friending you, plain and simple. And the thing is, we likely don’t know each other at all anyway, so I probably shouldn’t have been Facebook friends with you in the first place.
If you’re reading this, I encourage everyone to enforce the Facebook 3-Strike Rule with me. There are enough annoying things in everybody’s day, so come on, I really do not need to log into Facebook to see yet another invitation to the Oh Nuts! fan page that has no relevance to me – and if it for some reason does, I couldn’t see it because the sender gave zero context.
When it comes to Facebook, always remember:
- Be polite
- Respect people’s Facebook pages
- Do not blindly invite your friend list to be a fan of your project
- Friend-request people with whom you have a reason to connect
What do you guys think? Helpful rule?
Etiquette, Facebook, Social Networks | Comments (12)12 Responses to “The Facebook 3-Strike Rule”
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You’re right. It’s so damn annoying with all those invites and causes. I ignore them each and every single time, unless I know exactly who is sending them and/or it’s a cause I respect and want to be part of. Either way, Facebook isn’t really how I’m going to go through my philanthropic efforts. Not to mention, I am friended by people that offer no reasoning of to how we met or know each other. Twitter is easier that way, but to me, Facebook is more personal and I would at least like to know how we’re affiliated or maybe the way we met.
I like your three strike rule. It’s totally in effect :)
If it was me, I’d send one personal message either before or at the time of unfriending them. Facebook works so insidiously that they may be spamming you without knowing they are doing so. Also, unfriending is silent, and your intent isn’t to be silent!
@ Randy
My intent is to simply eliminate each individual problem as it arises, to make my Facebook experience less aggravating. Whether the “friend” in question notices or not, I don’t care too much either way. Maybe a final warning would be nice, and I’d consider doing that with someone I actually know, but for someone who is otherwise a complete stranger, I probably wouldn’t waste my time.
I find this very annoying as well. Even worse is when people think something relates to me, but 1′m just busy! I will join your cause to get the 3 strike rule in full force ;)
Sure it’s annoying to get the invites, but I’m guessing that a lot of users don’t even no they sent them. Some apps are so sneaky that you may click next to send an invite just thinking that you’re advancing to the next screen in the app. Don’t take it all out on your less tech savvy friends. :)
Good post, couldn’t agree more. FB should put up a “DENY” or “DECLINE” button instead of just Ignore, might send the inviter a nudge to stop sending them, although some people just simply do NOT get it, and then they get mad when you call them out. /instantaneous defriending/
I just had the best cherry cobbler XD
Supposedly, Facebook’s going to be adding “Fan” status to our regular pages.
I suppose that if people keep that up, you can make them fans without deleting them entirely.
If not….. SEEYA! :D
Agree that it’s really annoying to get all these requests without context. But, to be fair, in some cases Facebook is causing the annoyance: they don’t allow you to add personal text to a “fan this Page” request the way they do when you friend someone. But in all other cases, it’s people who need to take a second to write a sentence or two; Facebook also needs to write a few lines of code.
Got a Business ? Then buy advertising on Facebook like the rest of us and don’t annoy your friends. That is if you really have any friends that aren’t just “spam buddies”
Love the 3-strike rule. I’ll be using it on a “friend” who keeps wanting me to become a fan of his cause. Nothing against his cause, it’s nice and all but I have no personal stake in it.. I’ve hit “ignore” three times. I’m going to my page now to defriend him and then block this pest! Thanks.
Who has time to keep up with all that cr@p anyway? I think it is rude and agree with you on the three strikes. Some are good causes, but the spam is over the top! Maybe two strikes to thin the heard faster…