As common as someone asking, “where did you grow up?” I find myself being asked, “Are you on Facebook?” as soon as we are introduced. Years ago, I would have hesitated at such an outright request, but ever since Facebook updated it’s (still very confusing, but getting there) privacy settings, I have less of an issue adding acquaintances as friends and designating them into their rightful list. One popular list that Facebook creates for you is the family list – because not everyone wants to see photos of your grandmother’s 90th birthday party. I am a firm believer in people utilizing these lists for groups such as their close friends, work acquaintances, college friends, family members and so on. This also means your professional Facebook friends are less likely to “hide” your posts if they’re not seeing every check-in from Foursquare and updates about what you ate for dinner.
Let’s get back to business. Unless I don’t know you at ALL, I am most likely going to accept your friendship. After all, social networking is about building relationships and connecting with people. It increases your opportunity to network with others – people you may not know. I have found the answer to countless questions posting my inquiries on Facebook and waiting for the “oh so prompt” Facebook Gods/my network to respond. In everyday conversation, I find myself answering my friends questions with “I don’t know, I think you should post that question on Facebook.” While I may go to Yelp to see if the new dentist I chose is legit, I will probably start by asking my network if they can recommend the right DDS for the job.
The moral of the story is, use Facebook for all of it’s glory, don’t discount a friend request because you don’t want them creeping around your page. Change your settings to your liking and accept away. You never know who knows who, and the more the merrier when it comes to power of social networking.
