The AECE Group: Miscellany #13

When Facebook Friends

Become Less Than Friends

Facebook “Friends” getting on your nerves with their posts?

To be sure, this whole area of life in social media is fraught

with social convention, both reasonable and not, and both

known and yet unspoken! Acceptable “behavior” and

normative expectations are generally vastly different from their

face-to-face counterparts out in the neighborhood or in the

workplace. Readers need to know that removing a person from

your Facebook Friends list is seen by many in this on-line

universe as an aggressive action to be taken only after due

and deep consideration. Seriously!

Perhaps there are alternatives worthy of consideration. It alldepends on the depth of your upsettedness, the frequency of theirritating postings, and the atmosphere that greets and envelopesyou on your periodic Facebook visits.

Overview . . . You have no control over what others post, butyou do have control over what you see!

Least Aggressive Remedy . . . Unfollowing a Friend

This approach is somewhat analogous to “putting on blinders”. . . what you don’t see doesn’t bother you!

Open your Facebook page. Type your friend's name into thesearch bar at the top of the Facebook page, so that it will takeyou to their account page.

At the "Following" option at the top of their page, click it to revealthe pull-down menu . . with an option to UnFollow. This willremove their posts from your News Feed; however, you willremain Friends on Facebook! And everyone goes away happy!

Modestly Aggressive Remedy . . . Changing a Friend to an Acquaintance

The "Acquaintances" feature essentially drops the priority level of its occupant's posts to thelowest possible level, meaning you'll likely rarely see posts from friends in the Acquaintancesgroup.

Open your Facebook page and click the Friends tab (on the left) opening up a menu in thecenter of the page . . . with the option at the top being Acquaintances. Click on that option.

Click the "Add friends to this list" field. At the top of that page, in the long bar, you type thename of the person currently a Friend that you want to make into an Acquaintance. (If theyappear to the left, you can click their name or photo instead of typing it.) Then click FINISH atthe lower right.

Really Aggressive Remedy . . . Actually Deleting a Friend

Log in to Facebook and navigate to your own Profile page. Click on your Friends box. (See thefirst photo, below left.)

From the list of your Friends, find the person you would like to remove as a Facebook Friend,and hover over their name until a box appears. (See the right box at the bottom of the previouspage.)

Hover over the Friends checkmark, then click Unfriend. (See the photo above.)

(Note that this action is “reciprocal” . . this person is no longer on your Friends list, but thenyou will also no longer be shown on their Friends list. )

On a separate but possibly related matter . . . If you are interested in information about subscribing to,

and unsubscribing from Facebook Groups, ask us!

The Aberdeen East Computer and Electronics Users Group

In Formation 2016 - 2017

E-mail us at AECEGroup@gmail.com