A flurry of “friend” requests has arrived in my Facebook account lately from people I don’t know. Why this is happening, I have no guess.
Thanks for the thoughts, but don’t get bent out of shape if I don’t know you and don’t take it. If you have pinged me to be your Facebook “friend”, and I haven’t accepted your request, it’s nothing personal. You may be a wonderful dude or dudette, or not…I have no way to know. If I don’t take the request, I either am not familiar with you, haven’t met you, or don’t recall meeting you. [If the latter is the case, a reminder wouldn’t hurt.]
I’m not competing with anybody for most Facebook friends; nor do I crave any particular level of attention. Whether I’ve got ten “friends” or a thousand, it matters not the least. But I do want at least a marginal modicum of familiarity and trustworthiness regarding the set of folks with whom I share more personal information than found on the open Internet.
The following is really straightforward, no hidden agendas or ulterior motives. My criteria for accepting a “friend” request is very simple:
1. I have at least some familiarity with you, and
2. That familiarity is not decidedly negative (i.e., the loser who tried to steal my radio when I was 17 and failed miserably upon forceful intervention from yours truly), or,
3. I get a strong positive recommendation from someone I do know and trust very well.
Finally to all who would read this, “friend” or not…happy new year!