Too much noise; Why I’m dropping most of my Facebook friends

Healthy Envy

You envy intentional people and you should.  People who live their lives with intention know what they want and achieve it because they follow a process.

1. Stop letting distractions distract
2. Write down your dreams/goals
3. Write down steps to reach them
4. Stop often to check your progress on reaching your dreams/goals
5. (Rinse and repeat) 

Out of control

Facebook is out of control and it’s mostly my fault. Facebook is distracting because it creeps into my mind several times a day. Facebook can be a place for social interaction and for a highly social person like me Facebook is a drug. Facebook is also becoming very, very noisy.  Their recent changes encourage more sharing on the network of course. More sharing via Facebook with 1000+ friends means more information than I could ever hope to consume so I feel compelled to check it even more. Checking Facebook creates feelings of envy and superiority, distracts me from my work flow and creates the illusion of deepening relationships. Facebook is a buffet of relationships but all it serves is hor d’oeuvres.  Facebook has very little of substance. It serves up sugary snacks and it’s rotting my brain as well as my social structure.

Who are my friends?

I have thousands of friends. I went to high school with hundreds of people and did ministry with hundreds more. They were all at one time my friends. That was then and this is now. If Facebook is a place for your relationships of significance to grow (and for most of us it isn’t) then you need to prune. I’m pruning. Yesterday I deleted 1/3 of my Facebook friends. I’m only up to the letter J. My prediction is that I’ll have less than 250 friends by the time I’m done. I’m sorry if I “unfriend” you but it’s not because I don’t like you, it’s because I don’t have the capacity to interact with you. Every successful person I know had goals and boundaries in place to help them reach those goals. Deleting Facebook friends in just one way I’m trying to have better boundaries.

Enjoy your lunch

In a classic comic strip Charlie Brown complained about his lunch to his friend Linus until Linus asked him “Charlie Brown, who makes your lunch?” Charlie Brown replied, “I do.”

If you want to enjoy your life, your Facebook page, your family, your work and your church then make a better lunch. You can’t complain about what you make for yourself and if you do then you should be mad at yourself because it’s your fault.

What do you need to do to get control of your social media presence?

This post inspired by:
 Seth Godin, Mitch Joel and Daniel GulatiClick on their names to read the articles they wrote about this topic.

I will not be unfriending this hot chick


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Thanks for posting.  I noticed Dan Miller totally deleted his f/b profile and just keeps his business page.  His and Seth's content are so good that people look for them. I have hidden most peoples' updates on f/b to cut down on much of the garbage.

Good call Sutton.  It can take over so much of our attention and we simply need to ask "Why?"

Dang think I'm next with L. Oh well see you on hootsuite.

I'm glad you mentioned Twitter because I'm looking at it in a new way since I started this "unfriending".  It may be a better/easier place for me to communicate now with people like you and others that I don't know as well.

I'm taking a similar route, but instead of unfriending, I'm simply not subscribing or hiding their posts. This allows me to keep the network in place, just in case I need to find someone I friended at some point.

I'm going all out brother.  Go big or go home is what I say!  But I hope it's working for ya. You're a smart dude so I know you've got a handle on it.

I generally don't frequent facebook directly anymore since I fell in love with Hootsuite. This does sound like useful task! I think I'll do this next time I have some downtime, perhaps I'd go to facebook if were of actual friends.  

Make sure you check out this tip - it'll save you 50% of your time - ow.ly/7WMwE

Interesting Andy - I know that Chris Brogan points to the 150 number in Trust Agents as the amount you can truly interact with. I've done a little cleaning myself lately too.

I agree with Chris. See ya on Facebook.