With almost 5,000 ‘friends’ from both my business and personal life, it’s not too often that I get really upset by what anyone does or says on Facebook.
My Facebook timeline is open to everyone and all opinions… and although I argue a lot about politics with some folks, it’s rare that I would ‘unfriend’ anyone just because their opinion differs from mine.
It’s good to share. We all learn something. Maybe a little, maybe a lot.
Basically, Facebook is what it is.
HOWEVER, and that is a BIG however, what I do NOT appreciate, is being added to groups, especially those that I would never choose to join, had I been sent an invitation.
Case in point.
I was offline for a few days while camping in the ‘outback’ of New Mexico.
During that time, Facebook personality “____” added me to a group called ‘www.WatchPornandMakeMoney.com’.
Ya right… that’s a group I want my family and close friends to think I actually chose to join.
NOT!!!!
So, who loses?
Not me.
“Domain Specialist” loses, because our 136 ‘mutual friends’ get to hear about his/her REALLY stupid move in adding me to this ridiculous group… as do YOU… and hopefully, your friends. 
Granted, not every group add is quite so extreme, but trust me, adding people to Facebook groups they don’t themselves choose to join is a very bad move overall.
I personally have never remained a member of a group to which I was added by some so-called ‘friend’.
Moral of the story – Friends don’t add Friends to Facebook groups unless they ask first.
Doing so could ruin an otherwise good business reputation if you add the ‘wrong’ person… i.e. someone like me.
Treat all your Facebook friends with respect – personal and business.
Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
About Rosalind Gardner
I have to agree with you 100% of that one. I’ve been added to a lot of groups
that I would not have chosen to join… and a lot of time it’s apparent that the
groups founder added me primarily to get his membership numbers up.
People just don’t THINK sometimes!
Willie
What a domain name lol. Looks like the main site has typo domain affiliates too. But I won’t tell them about it – let them bleed profits
That is just wrong for someone to do that. FB does need to change that back to suggesting a group and let the person make up their own mind.
Serves him/her right to suffer the wrath of “Ros”. LOL
Woohoo..
Way to go Rosalind.
I agree 100% and this happens way too much. I cannot count how many times I get added to one of these groups which I am absolutely not interested in. All because I am friends with “Lucy” does not mean I am interested in a group she chose to join about “How to really Peel Apples without losing 1/2 of the Apple” Really! Come on Lucy..
Cheers Rosalind and Safe Travels
Jerry
Arrrgh!. I have the same complaint, Ros. I belong to several groups because I like visiting them and knowing the people. But I have had several add me to groups without my permission and you’re right.
I don’t like it!
Sandy
I agree with Roz on this point. People take too many liberties with Facebook & other sites such as this. I have people trying to friend me and I don’t even know who they are.
I think they just want to add names to their list, so they can brag about how many friends they have.
I think that’s funny as hell!
That is a smart point. Got to be flexible on the features when they add you to a group you never chose in the first place.
Good One Rosalind!!!! I totally agree. I don’t think I have been added to that yet but I shall double check.
Thank you for standing up to them “sleaze bages”
Sincere regards
Danella Rutherford
I didn’t realize we could be added to a group without our permission. I’ll have to check to see what groups I belong to now. FB can be a lot of fun, but lately some very weird things have happened as well which makes the site not so enjoyable. Thanks for letting us know!
Totally agree Rosalind.
I will be sure to disjoin all the groups supposedly friends added me to with out my interest or consent.
Couldn’t agree with you more Rosalind.
Hi Ros,
Bruce Safran here. Great post. Some people have no class or etiquette. I guess the moral of the story is: Be careful who your friends are!
Bruce
I am a business consultant and our firm has made some waves in my country. Somehow, there are people who think I should belong to their groups and they keep on adding me for some reason..and none of them asked me first.
I agree with you, it is a very bad move in every sense of the word. I wish Facebook had a way of sending “invitations” the way Linkedin does
I really feel your pain, happens to me when FB changes my security settings. That’s a particularly awful one, too.
Is it possible that he didn’t add you? I’ve seen some pretty weird things happen to people’s Facebook accounts that they didn’t actually do. Thanks!
Thanks for the Heads up, Ros! I didn’t know that was possible: is there a method to investigate if we’ve been added to groups w/o our Permission?
Sorry Rosalind I love your views have your products but not a lot of sympathy on Facebook.
I deactivate my account after daughters account was hacked and what gives them to right to
take over a account after 5,000 thousand members.. Facebook do what they want with your information on Facebook plus your information is use in China and other countries use it to
create a profile of you and sell to marketers.
Bad part of Facebook is you gave them free information about you on Facebook or other media sources to do as they wish with your information. Thrives have been able to use information against people steal identity know when to break in person house, thrives know you are out of town thrives know when you are coming back. Know what you look like. Plus people never read or have a lawyer read the terms of agreement to free media or email sites on what these site can do with your information. Many say that could not happen to me until something happens then they think twice about what they do and become more security conscious of things around them.
I have one thing to say it is all your fault. No harm meant by this information…
I fully agree. The only time I’ve been added to a group and stayed in was when a friend added me to the invite-only school group for my children’s school. I don’t need to be added to a group I didn’t consider on my own. Invite, sure, but I really don’t see why Facebook even lets people add others to groups. That’s not something I want others doing for me.
The Internet is crawling with mental pygmies like this moron, Ros. “I have a Facebook account and Internet access… so I MUST be a social media expert or at least an Internet marketer!”
Like Drayton Bird and Malcolm Auld point out in their parody video, “the fastest-growing category of self-appointed experts is social media experts” (http://youtu.be/DTdGNGCKpag).
Clueless about marketing, even more clueless about social networking. Dumb and dumber.
Hi Rosalind.
This is EXACTLY the reason why I stopped using facebook. In fact, I had the same situation happen to me. (it looks really bad when you are in business and you have a LOT of clients reading this stuff.)
I do need to build a facebook fan page for the blog I am building for my following, however. Do you know of a good resource I can learn from to build a facebook fan page, and simply integrate the platform with my blog?
If you know of any with an affiliate link, I will buy through you. I have bought a lot of stuff through you in the past, as I trust your advice.
How long have you been a super affiliate for now? I remember you were a SUPER affiliate WAY before I was even an affiliate!
Hi Rosalind,
I had top STOP using facebook for the same reason. When you have a business and you have many clients on your personal profile, this situation becomes worse! I need to build a fan page however for my blog I am building for my loyal following. DO you know any good resources that will show me how to do it and integrate the fan page with the blog? If you do, give me your affiliate link and I will buy from you.
William I think your a bit harsh here. Facebook is a tool we as online marketers might want to use in our promotion plans… The point is, they should filter this stuff out like the way Rosalind suggests in the post here.
Follow up.
Reviewed my groups and left about 10% of them so far.
Now I’m working on leaving groups that invite me to uninteresting events or send uninteresting Facebook emails.
Next I will look to unfriend people that send me too many promotional Facebook emails.
Hello Rosalind.
Nice people just don`t do that to there FRIENDS,these people are just using your popularity,and good reputation for there own gain.
John Sefton,Liverpool,England.
I absolutely agree with you! I don’t understand why Facebook would set things up the way they did. You used to be able to invite people to groups. You could select from your friends all the ones you thought might like it and then *they* could join if they so chose. Now, the invite option is gone and you can only add them–or send individual messages to them from your messages app and copy and send the link. Individually. Even to start a group, you can’t do it without adding a few friends. And clearly, this setup allows people to abuse it.
Hi Daisy,
Thanks for sharing – it seems that the group problems are only once source of abuse possible on Facebook.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/21/facebook-is-recycling-your-likes-to-promote-stories-youve-never-seen-to-all-your-friends/
Cheers,
Ros