A Rant: How Do You Make Friends In The Real World?

Sorry, I need to have a bit of a rant! I love Facebook and I have made lots of connections on the site beyond my immediate family, friends and business contacts.

Here is the reason for my rant, I had a friend request from someone who will remain nameless. I should have known better when the profile picture was of an e-book and the attached message was about ‘a new amazing system that will NOT fail to make me money’.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt and added them to my contacts. I get a few contact requests every day and I generally add everyone because I am happy to network and make connections with new people. You can connect with me on Facebook here. Some people don’t share this view and limit who they make new connections with but this really is a personal choice.

Now, as soon as the person had been added to my contacts they popped up with the same message and a link for ‘a new amazing system that will NOT fail to make me money’.

Okay, I was bored, so I visited the link, looked in the source code which revealed what I had expected; he was using a domain to mask his clickbank affiliate link (you can find out how to do that here).

I mentioned this to him and suggested Facebook is better used as a way of making connections and not for this type of marketing (well, it’s actually spamming as no right-minded marketer would market in such a way). What made me laugh was when he replied ‘just purchase through my link’.

I tried a bit more to educate the individual but to no avail. He then went from having a discussion with me to sending me an inbox message on Facebook with the link again.

I have now removed this person from my contacts, sorry but they had to go.

I have to question whether this guy would go up to random people in the street and say ‘go here, buy this and make money’. He just wouldn’t (I’d like to think!) so why do it on Facebook.

The best way to use Facebook is the same way you would make connections in the real world, your new connections will thank you for it and so will your reputation!

I would love to write an amazing article about ‘Facebook Etiquette‘ and how best to make lasting connections but I was beaten to the post by the following article and I recommend you give it a good read.

Etiquette pitfalls in the social web of wannabe friends

Rant over! Tomorrow I’ll provide you with the usual on topic information you’ve grown accustomed to receiving from me…

To your success,

Karl Foxley

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