Facebook Ettiquette

It’s no secret that I hate Facebook.  Loathe it.  The original concept was good.  It was, and I guess is, a great way to catch up with “whatever happened to Person from high school, college, little league”.  And it’s supposed to be a good way to network.  I find Twitter much more useful because I can pop in and out and not be accosted by idiot applications like Mafia Family and Farmville (the fact that I can block said applications is not the point).  But whatever, I’ve been TRYING to use it.  I make myself make one update a day.  I know, not a lot.  I’m trying.

But it’s really hard when Facebook keeps making massive privacy violations.  Like the fact that anyone on your Friends List can add you to a group WITHOUT your permission.  You can, of course, opt OUT, but not until you’ve received a boatload of notices and incur a great deal of WTF.  WHY, I’d like to know, is it not like Goodreads where it is an opt IN?  Nobody wants to be randomly added to groups without being given a CHOICE. There does not seem to be a way to opt out of this.  There are, in fact, several groups devoted to lambasting Facebook for not allowing permissions.  I joined one.

I have to say this never happens on my personal account.  It’s all on my public account as Kait Nolan.  Which means that, by and large, I’m being randomly added to groups by other writers and people in the writing/publishing community.

People THIS IS REALLY FREAKING RUDE.  Don’t do it.  Read all the silly little lines, and check boxes and crap and don’t accidentally do it (because God knows Facebook likes to make itself as spammy as humanly possible).  And sure as heck don’t do it on PURPOSE just to boost your group numbers to make it look more popular.

Now that Facebook will allow you to interact on Facebook as your page, I’m trying to figure out if I can just use that instead of a personal account, privatize everything, and NOT get added to groups or slammed with ridiculous apps.  A lot of authors seem to have just pages rather than regular accounts owing to the limitations on the number of friends you can have.  I certainly am nowhere near that level, but I’m thinking I’m maybe going to move in that direction.

So if you are into Facebook and are one of my friends there, you’ll probably want to go Like my author page here.

9 thoughts on “Facebook Ettiquette

  1. It is definitely VERY rude to add people to a group without asking. So far, I’ve only been invited to things on FB, not added against my will. I use my personal FB account far more than my author account. I’m like you…I like Twitter better for networking as an author. I need to use it more, though. *looks sheepish*

  2. Ahh, a woman after my own heart. I, too, loathe Facebook. It is the most intrusive, spammy application I’ve ever used. If I didn’t get several click-throughs to my blog per week, I’d deactivate my account.

    That said, I haven’t had this particular thing happen yet. Thanks for the heads up. If I create a group, I’ll know to carefully read all the fine print.

  3. Kate
    I second your loathing. I do use it to stay it touch with family and friends, but it’s annoying. I have half my peeps hid because of stupid Farmville and Mafia crap.

    I haven’t branched outside my personal account, but I’d be livid if someone started adding me to groups without permission. That’s incredibly rude and just plain stupid.

    Personally, I think FB can be confusing. Too many options and too many advertising crap. Twitter’s much better for networking, IMO.

    I suppose I should link my page to my blog, but …. eh. Whatever.

  4. I also dislike Facebook. I have considered deleting both my account and my page, or at least just have my page, many many times… but I can’t figure out how to have the page without the personal account. I know there are readers who are only on facebook, but honestly, I don’t want to keep up with it. I’d rather just do my blog, twitter, and goodreads. One of these days, I may just bite the bullet and do it. What will that mean for my publicity, though? I can’t say I’m getting sales from Facebook, but having my name out there isn’t hurting me. Gah. Decisions.

  5. Hmm! I guess I must have a good ad blocker because I don’t see any of the ad stuff. I use it mainly to stay in touch with family and follow a few other folks. I don’t do any of the games and steer away from all those add ons and apps. They are a pain in the but. I guess I’m just not popular because nobody has tried to add me to a bunch of groups. Should I be jealous? Not!

  6. This explains how I got added to that post-grad “networking” group against my will. I just thought they had Facebook powers or something. That’s how little I know.

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