Facebook is an amazing tool for keeping in touch with our closest connections. At the same time it allows us to stay up-to-date with changes in their lives.
What if your Facebook habits were actually damaging some of your closest relationships? Could you unintentionally be driving a wedge between close friends, family and business associates?
I recently facilitated a mastermind session in Tucson on this topic. Here are a couple of best practices that came from this meeting.
Imagine you see status updates on a regular basis. These are from someone close to you, not just a casual acquaintance. Your normal response is to “like” their post. You rarely take the time to comment on it, or to share the post with others. The author continuously sees you liking their posts, but you never engage in conversation.
From their perspective, it could be like seeing you at the grocery store, you walk by and say “hello,” but never stop to talk. Certainly they could conclude you did not think their post was worthy of a comment.
If you never liked the post, the author would probably never even notice. If they did notice, they could only assume you never saw the post. Here is what the group recommended: If the person is close to you and you took the time to read the post and click the like button, take an extra 30 seconds and add a quick comment.
Imagine you see a post from someone you are very close to regarding an important event in their life. Maybe they had a birthday, got married, had a child, got a big promotion or something like that. These significant events warrant a phone call, not a comment on a post or a private Facebook message. If the person is important to you, and the event is important to them, that is a clear indicator this justifies a quick phone call.
Try these simple tips and avoid unintentionally damaging close relationships on Facebook.
