The Top 14 Annoying Facebook Behaviors That Will Cost You Friends

I’ve written before about Facebook’s usability issues, especially regarding the new Facebook profile. But Facebook doesn’t seem to care about the user experience and the chances they’ll make any changes are pretty small.

Facebook does however allow you some flexibility in what you see on your home page. It’s not enough flexibility but at least you can hide friends that annoy the hell out of you with their clueless Facebook etiquette.

What can make you hide a friend from your Facebook home page? I asked my own Facebook friends and added my own peeves to this list of top 14 annoying Facebook behaviors. If you want to keep your friends on social media, you need to keep an eye out for these Facebook faux pas.

1. Stream-hogging

When someone posts so many times during the day that when I log in all I can see is their status updates, they’re stream-hogging. You don’t need to announce what you’re doing minute-by-minute. You have other friends and they have other friends, so don’t overdo it. Keep your updates to maximum of three or four a day — and keep them interesting!

2. Using an obnoxious photo as your profile photo.

Don’t impose a bad photo on people or they’ll simply hide your stream

This one is a total deal-breaker for me. Some people think it’s amusing to post an obnoxious image as their profile photo. Maybe it’s funny the first time but when we have to see the photo again and again, it becomes less amusing and more… well, obnoxious. Be considerate. Don’t impose a bad photo on people or they’ll simply hide your stream.

3. Being overly negative.

Yes, I get it. Sometime life can be tough and it’s nice to get support from friends and family on Facebook. But when you do this on a daily basis, you become an “energy vampire,” sucking all the joy out the site.

We want to be exposed to positive, happy people not downers who want to drag us down with them. So if you’re always feeling sad, please, open a self-help book and pep yourself up. Keep those depressing status updates to a minimum.

4. Sharing automated updates.

Please don’t post your game results, daily horoscope or any other uninteresting automatic status updates daily. Because, you know, we really don’t care. We don’t care about our own horoscopes, and we definitely don’t care that you just broke some record we’ve never heard of on a game we don’t give a toss about. Just don’t.

5. Checking in everywhere you go.

Yes, Facebook’s check-in feature is cool and I do use it sometimes. But not all the time! I really don’t want to stalk you and frankly, where you are eating lunch is not that interesting. Unless you’re having lunch with Steve Jobs, in that case, please say hi, wish him well for me and ask him when the next iPad is coming out.

6. Using all caps.

Using all caps makes you look like you’re yelling

This is a big “no  no” in every communication platform, including email, but it’s especially bad etiquette on a public forum. It makes you look like you’re yelling. Also, that you haven’t finished elementary school. Steer clear of the caps lock key. Very clear. If you want to emphasize something, place asterisks around it. It’s pretty too.

7. Posting the same thing again and again… and again.

Telling us that you’re “going to work” or asking “is it Friday yet?” might be cute the first time. By the tenth time, we’re yawning. On the eleventh, we’re hiding the feed. Of course, once everyone has done that, you can repeat yourself as often as you want.

8. Posting your bra color or revealing where you place your purse.

I know it’s supposed to be for a good cause (although how it helps beats me – I was aware of horrible diseases before) but it’s just too much information. Especially the purse thing that makes us think you’re telling us where you like to have sex (“I like it on the dining table!”). What a better way to start a morning than to visualize a middle-aged friend having sex on the table where we had dinner last week. If that doesn’t put you off your Corn Flakes, nothing will.

9. Trashing someone from your community.

It’s totally okay to trash Paris Hilton; that’s what she’s there for

It’s totally okay to trash Paris Hilton; that’s what she’s there for. But please don’t trash your teachers, your local rabbi and especially not your friends. It’s bad taste and makes you look unpleasant. After all, if you trash them, how will I know you won’t be trashing me next?

10. Sending greetings.

Saying “Good morning, Facebook friends” and “Good night, Facebook friends” every day is really not interesting. Also, it makes you look like you have no offline life. We really don’t need it. Just tell us when something interesting happens. We can wait.

11. Shameless self-promotion.

Vote for my band! Read my blog post! Buy my product! Facebook can be a business platform and promotion is acceptable if done once in a while (maybe once a month). But when it dominates your stream and all we get from you  is self-promotion, it’s really not friendly. It’s like going to a bar and telling everybody about your latest network marketing scheme. That’s a huge turn off, and it will get turned off.

12. Having too many friends.

When you have 500 or 1,000 friends, that’s a pretty good sign that Facebook for you isn’t personal. It’s a place to promote, and the chances you will see my status updates among all the others are pretty small. It’s a lot like having a conversation with someone who insists on doing all the talking. I want to talk to someone who listens and treats me as an individual.

13. Re-inviting your friends to your fan page.

I got the invite the first time. If I was interested, I would have joined the page then. Feel free to invite me once if you think the page might appeal, but if I didn’t join, assume the answer was “no, thanks.”

If you know the answer is “no” that’s a waste of time and effort for both of us

14. Inviting me to events that I couldn’t possibly attend.

So you’ve put together a fundraiser, a launch, a barn-raising party or who knows what, and you’ve decided to invite your Facebook buddies. If you think they could be interested, and if they live within a reasonable mile radius, that’s fine. But if the event is in a different state, let alone a different country, why ask me? It’s just yet another thing I have to respond to, and if you know the answer is “no” that’s a waste of time and effort for both of us. But thanks anyway.

So now you know. Next time you wonder why nobody is responding to your status update (they all hid you) or why that friend un-friended you, it was probably one of these.

What’s your favorite Facebook peeve?

( If you like this post, please feel free to post it on your Facebook page, let’s make Facebook more pleasant for everybody!)