When Facebook Gets Ugly

As you probably know by now, I’m only an intermittent blogger (hope to improve on that soon). I was inspired today by what is regrettably becoming a very common occurrence in my life – Facebook Ugliness.

Whether it is a religious, political, bigoted or spammy post makes no difference.  What I am finding is: even though I am loving the fact that I am nearing 2,000 connections on Facebook (great for marketing my main clients), the problem lies in the increasing number of hateful, judgmental, and just outright WRONG people who are friending me. Maybe I’m being Pollyanna here, but if you friend me, the least you can do is try to be nice.

I typically confirm friends if they are just about any person who is a small business owner in Texas, or who is a Realtor or Mortgage Professional anywhere in the U.S.- that is my audience from a marketing standpoint, and it’s where my main personal interests lie as well. Unlike many, I have no issues mixing business friends with my real friends – I am the same person talking to you no matter what category you’re in. But here is where I draw the line when it comes to you talking to me via the news feed:

1. You imply (or outright say) that I’m going to hell unless I _____________. (i.e., repent, vote for your party, like and re-post, buy Chick-Fil-A)
2. You imply (or outright say) how right your____________is compared to the other guy and how everyone who is not on your side is stupid. (i.e. religion, product, candidate)
3. You slam your ex.  I have almost 2,000 friends and it’s likely I don’t know you well enough to be subjected to this. Shut up about it already. Get a therapist for God’s sake.
4. You post your sales pitch on my wall, or tag me in photo sales pitch.  Hey I’m a marketer too, but this is the equivalent of telemarketing to me during dinner. It’s a big Facebook faux pas, and if you do it more than once I’m likely to not only remove you, but I’m likely to label your post as spam. Because face it, that’s exactly what it is.

Amazingly enough, #4 is the one I find most offensive.  I guess it’s because in spite of all the ugliness that surrounds religion, politics, and racism, people are still always entitled to their opinion. The difference in #4 is that it disregards everyone’s opinion except the offender’s.  As a marketer who uses all types of channels to reach my audience, I mind closely how I use those channels so I avoid the spam label, and I expect you to do the same.

Please don’t make me unfriend you by doing any of these things – you can never have enough friends, but you can sure have enough of ugliness.