Sarah Morgan
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Their ability to make normally lovely people into incredibly annoying people.
Have Facebook and Twitter some strange power to shut down the lobe whose job it is to consider:
“… Hey, is this of even the slightest interest to anyone else?”
“… Will this make anybody roll their eyes at me?”
“… Am I maybe coming off like a total asshat?”
Apparently, yes. Yes they do.
So I’m taking action. If your tweets or updates include any of the following, I hereby unilaterally and for all time revoke your ability to get hurt feelings for being mocked:
- White whines. Self-explanatory.
- Banal errands. I don’t care if you’re going to Starbucks. I just don’t.
- Emo song lyrics. You listen to this music before you grow a sense of humor. And you leave it in your bedroom where you apply black eyeliner and write in your journal about how misunderstood you are. I did it that way, and I’d appreciate it if you did too.
- Play-by-play. If I care about the game, I have it on, and I don’t need this. If I don’t, I don’t, and I don’t. Either way.
- Topics that have formed the subject of three or more previous posts. The only possible exceptions to this are your own children. And that’s only if they’re real cute.
Otherwise? Frankly? Shush.
Silence can be beautiful, people. Respect the beauty of a bare status.
(A Facebook hate post that has nothing to do with privacy or Mark Zuckerberg. Who would have thought?)
thank god my children are real cute. :-D
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sarah Morgan, Ty Francis. Ty Francis said: Love it! RT @sarahmorgan New blog post: What I Hate Most About Social Networks: http://bit.ly/a64xmL […]
WHEW at least I will have the graces on my children. They are exceptionally cute. Not that any mother wouldn’t think that of their own children. ;)
I’ll respectively disagree with the banal errands and you probably hate that part of my social networking…but I joined Twitter 3 years ago when it was still asking what you were doing and for some odd reason I like to know what people actually do with their day. Even Starbucks. Call my crazy.
As for the play-by-play, one of my favorite aspects of Twitter is experiencing something with other people you wouldn’t normally get to experience it with. And sometimes I’ll watch something on TV just because so many people are tweeting about it and I’d like to join in. Hey look there, it’s people being social.
I’d rather be myself and someone unfollow me than to try to work so hard to be something I’m not.
Sorry…this is a rant I’ve been meaning to have. I suppose you got the brunt of it.
To be fair, are you ranting against social networks which have existed for millennia — or social networking sites like Facebook? Does the internet and the seduction of strangers matter?
Amy, I don’t disagree with you – especially not on the ‘be yourself’ part! I think you’re just less easily annoyed than I am – a very admirable trait.
Ari, yes, I’m talking about social networking websites, not the sociological concept of social networks.
I must say I find myself annoyed by the posts detailing where someone is. Why do I care that you’re at the Starbucks at the Corner of X and Y? Or the Panera? Or wherever you are…
Hi Robin, think of Foursquare and other geolocational services from a networking and business perspective.
For instance, if you share you are at Starbucks and I am near that Starbucks, you are telling me to come over and say hi. That’s a networking pickup line I’d otherwise never know.
Also, what if I’m the Starbucks manager and want to offer a coupon to the person who checks in the most?
Ari, I understand how people use it, but it doesn’t make it any more appealing to me. And I’m all about networking… I just find it a little creepy to have people know where I am all the time. And truthfully, I’m not more likely to start using it just because Starbucks — or another entity — offers a coupon to the person who checks in the most. That’s not enough incentive for me to feel good about people knowing my whereabouts.
Robin, I don’t use location-based social networks because of the personal safety issues inherent to them. I think this is a worry that comes more automatically to women than to men.
I hear you Sarah…my pet hate, more than where people are going, what they are eating, who they are with…is people live tweeting about TV shows. I get you LOVE ‘Glee’ or ‘Saving Grace’ but really 20 tweets about it…TMI :)
Sarah, Concerns over personal safety issues are another reason I don’t use them.
Ty, ditto on the TV shows. I’m okay with people tweeting about events they’re at — I may get some useful info. Tweeting about new recipes you’ve tried that I might like? Great! But I don’t need your TV show tweets either…
To be fair Sarah, you’re not much of a sports fan :)
I’ll agree with Amy that it’s fun to share the experience of watching the game with people all over the internet. I get thrilled every time I tag a post with #yankees and it gets picked up and RT’d somewhere. In fact, I’d counter with one of my most-hated kind of SM posts is people complaining about their Twitter or Facebook feed blowing up with sports updates. It’s like a conversation among people who have a common interest that you don’t share. Don’t tell people to shut up, just go find another conversation.
The inherent flaw, I suppose, is that with social media, everyone can hear your conversation whether they want to or not and having to hear a bunch of conversations about stuff you don’t care about can certainly get irritating.
I think everybody has different little things that annoy the crap out of them when it comes to social networking and we all have to learn to skim past those and get on to the posts that really interest us. Don’t drink the whole river, to paraphrase a wise woman I know :)
To follow up on Karen’s post, one thing I do like about Facebook is the ability to “hide” updates by subject — so if I don’t want to read your Farmville updates, I can designate such. Too bad you can’t do a similar block on certain hashtags on Twitter.
When I do use location based stuff, I tend to “check in” after I’ve left or when I’m leaving. It gives people an idea of how I’m spending my day but doesn’t give a chance for anyone to find me. I know it defeats part of posting that kind of information but in other ways it doesn’t. The thing is, Foursquare in particular makes it super easy to find a location and tweet it. I’d be ok if it never posted an address. I also never post about where I work, bank or where my kids are. I think there are some smart ways you can use location based stuff and share at some level.
Robin, I agree on the hiding. I do often hide applications in Facebook and certainly wish I could hide tags on Twitter. One thing I do get annoyed at is Twitter parties. However, I’ve found some great parties and people through that and if there is one going on, I just keep an eye for the tag and ignore it. I know sometimes I tweet out stuff that annoys other people. I just think we’re all going to annoy each other at some point and we should just to respect the other person when they do. If ALL their tweets are annoying, that’s the only time I’ll unfollow someone. Otherwise, I just ignore what I don’t like.
I do have to say as a people pleaser though it makes me want to give it all up. I hate that I’m annoying people but at the same time I enjoy connecting with others so much. It really puts you in a Catch-22. By trying to connect with people, you end up pushing people away. Not sure if it’s worth it.
Sorry for the long comment again…maybe I need to publish a post on this and get it all out :)
This is (one of the reasons) why I love you.
My fabulous coworker Alanna found Blockchalk, which is an iPhone app allowing you to comment on location-based stuff anonymously. Not having an iPhone (…yet…) I haven’t been able to play with it, but it sounds like something I’d be much happier with.
And yes, full disclosure, Karen is right, I’m not much of a sports fan. I’ll be happy watching a game when I’m with a fan, but left alone, I’m perfectly happy to never watch any kind of sports.
It seems like the consensus is, skim over convos that annoy you and unfollow/hide the people that annoy you more than otherwise. Yes?
The following just ensued after I told Kris about this post:
Him: Well, what kind of posts was she talking about?
Me: For instance stuff about what you’re doing. Like “I’m going to the store.”
Him: But what if you’re fighting a bear?
Me: …
Him: I mean, come on! First of all, you’re fighting a bear! Second of all, you’re so cool your updating facebook while you’re doing it!
Me: Well presumably if you’re fighting a bear, your post would be about fighting a bear while going to the store, not just about going to the store, so therefore that kind of post doesn’t fall under the definition of what she was talking about.
It seems Kris and I have different opinions about what constitutes banal. I wonder what he would find exciting.
I’m with you, Sarah. Thoughts, ideas, shared interests, information, amusing and/or original stuff — and yes, even cute kids, within reason. Or location, if it’s relevant. All good. All potentially engaging.
But narrating one’s (possibly not very interesting) life to a quasi-captive audience? Sorry, I’m not listening. Write it in the old journal that’s in the drawer next to the black eyeliner!
HAHAHAA…. you said ASSHAT!!! Love it!