More Tips for the Facebook Forum

What to do when:

Someone posts or tags a less than flattering photo of you

Email them through Facebook and mention you would prefer the unphotogenic picture be removed. It's also possible to untag yourself in the mean time.

An individual repeatedly sends over a Friend Request (this seems to happen more than expected. Oftentimes, it's a friend of a friend or someone simply looking to add people to his or her profile).

I don't believe it's necessary to send an explanation to the person as to why you aren't interested in making the connection. If a friend request is denied, there is no communication sent over to the sender that you have done so. If the request is sent more than once or twice, my suggestion is to block them. On the blocked end, this will look like your profile is no longer active. If you have mutual friends, your name and pictures from past posts will still be there in an unlinkable form, but any future communication will be invisible.

I have also gotten into the habit of emailing the mutual friends I have with the unknown person who has sent the request. More often than not, there is a domino affect of friend acceptance (my friend didn't know them either but had 5 mutual friends and so accepted the request, and so on).

You, yourself are deleted

If it's someone you didn't know well, try not to take it personally. It might just be that the individual who deleted you is trying to edit down their contacts to those he or she is close to.

If it is someone you knew well (aka someone in "real life"), my suggestion is to email them for confirmation of this decision. Give them the benefit of the doubt that it could be a glitch. If by chance this was done intentionally, at least you have tried to open the lines of communication to discuss any issues.

Someone in your network is posting more updates than you care to read

Simply click to the right of their most recent posting and opt to "hide" them. You will no longer receive any future postings.

A good guideline to follow is not to act on Facebook any differently than you would in person. The separation from interaction provided by our computers often lends itself to things we wouldn't necessarily do or say face to face. My belief and goal is to use social media to enhance communications, not replace it.

Facebook: Computer Friends Deserve Manners too

It's all too easy to use the Internet as a means to stay in contact with people. In fact, ever since social media became a daily part of most people's lives, the Internet has made it possible to create a habit of monitoring friends and acquaintances without any real interaction at all.

I wanted to address this issue, because I am simultaneously guilty and frustrated with this fact. Admittedly, I'm hesitant to attend my own high school reunion for the simple fact that I'm not a fan of small talk, and Facebook has taken the mystery out of what my classmates have been up to the past ten years.
On a similar note, I try to keep my own FB friends to people I know and have kept in touch with to some degree. I realize that social media can be a great medium for networking and expanding one's connections. At this point, however, I'm taking the old fashioned route and keeping my FB network to personal contacts.

Although Emily Post never dealt with such informal interaction, she did have some things to say about leaving invitations for social occasions:

"A card should always be left with the first invitation to a stranger who has brought a letter of introduction, and it is polite - though not necessary - to ask to be received."

FB Application: When connecting with an old friend, if I am the one who sends out the request, I try to write a few sentences, just to say hello again. If I am on the receiving end of a request without a message, I like to accept the invite with a quick greeting as well. These two steps take only a few minutes and help to keep the connection on Facebook personal.

In terms of making one's place in the community:

"You who are establishing yourself, choose to have the populace look upon you because of your wealth and fashion, or would you wish to be loved, not as a power conferring favors which belong really to the first picture, but as a fellow-being with an understanding heart?"
Emily Post Etiquette 1924

Facebook Application: Is it worth adding as many friends as possible just to appear popular? Or would you rather keep the people connected to you, those who actually know and care about you?

Aside from dealing with the acquisition of friends on Facebook, here are some other helpful tips for relationships, both platonic and romantic alike.