Friday, April 7, 2017

Facebook - The Status That’s Becoming More and More Tempting to Post

Let me start off by admitting that I’m kind of addicted to Facebook.  I spend much more time on it than I should.  I post tons of pictures of the fur kids, the garden when things are blooming, and some food pictures.  It’s a great way to keep up with people I don’t see regularly.  And I’m a sucker for cat videos.

It seems like periodically, though, there’s a rash of people using Facebook as a way to sell (or harass you to buy) whatever home based or direct sales product they’ re selling at the moment.  Some of them border on stalker behavior trying to get you to try their product, buy their product, or have a “party” to sell their product to your friends.  Lately, the trend seems to be to add you to a group or an event about it.  It fills up your news feed, and you constantly get notifications about it.  It’s annoying.

I first had the idea for this a few months ago when the “Make Facebook Fun Again” photo went around in response to people’s behavior on Facebook concerning politics and other controversial topics.  I liked it.  I thought it was a fairly lighthearted way to make a very valid point.

I have no artistic abilities, so I just wrote something out with markers.  I haven’t posted it on my Facebook page, but it’s becoming more and more tempting.  Unfortunately, everything here has been something that has been an ongoing issue.

The leggings: For some reason, I took an instant and intense dislike to these.  They remind me of the stirrup pants craze of the late 80s/early 90s.  As a child, I took an instant and intense dislike to those.  As a kid I was more of a jeans and button down kind of girl.  Today I’m more of a Worthington pants and top or sweater for work, and jeans and t-shirt or sweater for time off kind of person.  Leggings just don’t do it for me.

The habit with them seems to be for people to add you to groups and events for them.  You then get tons of notifications and reminders.  Sometimes there’s a blurb about why the person selling them needs your support.  I just don’t think that’s appropriate.  If you’re trying to sell me something, at least focus on why I need the product, not on why you need the money from selling me the product.

The miracle weight loss programs: This has probably been the most egregious one.  The worst person by far, is a former co-worker, who started messaging me every single time I got on Faceook about trying it.  EVERY.  SINGLE.  TIME.  Early in the morning, late at night, it didn’t matter.  Every time I logged into Facebook, she was there on Chat, telling me how her program would transform my life, make me skinny, and make me a millionaire so I could quit my day job.
I finally told her that I didn’t try weight loss products that are soy based, or that have any soy at all, so if hers did, I couldn’t try them.  Most of them do, so I thought that would get her to leave me alone.  I have to avoid soy for medical reasons.  I have benign tumors that are estrogen fed.  Because soy mimics estrogen, I have to avoid it.  It can cause the tumors to grow, which increases the chances of them rupturing and causing internal bleeding.  To put it bluntly, and dramatically, consuming large quantities of soy could actually kill me.

You might think that would be enough to make someone back off, but you would be wrong.  She went on to tell me how their soy is different.  Okay, sure.  I’ll ignore what medical professionals have told me because you (with no medical training) think I should try this program.  I don’t think so.  I turned off Chat and stopped reading her messages.  She then added me to a group detailing people’s success stories.  It took me a while to figure out why every time I logged into Facebook I was inundated with pictures of half naked strangers.   I finally figured it out, removed myself from the group, and chose the option to prevent anyone from adding me back in.

The cosmetics and skin care: This seems to be the latest trend where the people selling them send you friend requests and messages because you’re friends with a friend of theirs, and they just know you’ll love what they’re selling.  Really?  You know my skin type and cosmetics preferences just based on my being friends with someone?  Do you also happen to know the winning lottery numbers in the next drawing?

The other trick is that they add you to groups to teach you how to apply cosmetics, take care of your skin, etc, once again filling up your news feed and sending you tons of notifications.  No thanks.  I’m 35.  I’ve been wearing makeup since I was 14.  I’ve figured out how to apply it over the two decades I’ve worn it.

The accessories: In my experience these are usually the most blatant appeals for money.  The sales pitches usually come with appeals along the lines of “I just need to sell X number of dollars worth per month to be a stay at home mom”.  Again, if you’re selling a product at least focus on why the potential buyer needs it rather than why you need to sell it.

I’m sorry, but I’m just not going to part with my hard-earned money for overpriced handbags, hair clips, nail polish, whatever the product of the moment is just because you want me to.  That’s not why I get up and go to work every morning.

Like I said, I haven’t posted this on my Facebook page, but it becomes more and more tempting every day.  I’m just not sure it would actually make a difference with some people.

So what about you?  Are you inundated with people trying to sell you things on Facebook?  Have you found a good way to convince people you’re not buying?

I realize this post was a little bit of a rant, and I promise that tomorrow’s post will be much more positive.  We all need a good rant every now and then, though.  So feel free to rant away in the comments.  I’m honestly kind of hoping I’m not the only one.  

12 comments:

  1. Hey that's surprising! I haven't come across this sort of thing on Facebook! But I AM very careful on who I add in my list there. Plus, I never stay in unsolicited groups. Maybe this is more prevalent in western countries. I stay in India.
    Happy AtoZing!
    Chicky @ www.mysteriouskaddu.com

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  2. I am not inundated by what people are selling on Facebook, but to be honest, I only have about 43 friends on Facebook and the majority of them are family, LOL. I use it mainly to keep up with family and a few friends. I've liked a few pages that have featured corgis and other things. Its easy to spend a lot of time on there though.

    betty

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  3. I don't use Facebook. After reading your post, I don't feel like starting using it!

    Eva - Mail Adventures

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  4. I am not on Facebook and never will be. As for leggings I hate looking at butt-crack. Do these women have no modesty or self-respect? These diets that come and go drive me bonkers - don't get me started. And cosmetics? Have you seen the ads implying that Meryl Streep and Robert Redford have married each other? And then get directed to some miracle cream cure for wrinkles? Ugh!

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  5. I challenge you my new friend to Queen of fecbook! haha...that is the title I have given myself for the last few years. HAHA....I am on it a lot. More then I probably need to be. Having Fibromyalgia and finding myself down and not able to do a the things in the house that are calling my name, I get on FB. Anyway, it is an easy way to stay in touch with long lost friends, and staying in touch with my family! I must be the only one that just scrolls by this stuff you mentioned. I hear folks talking about others political post, religious post, makeup stuff...etc. I just scroll by all that. FB to me is FUN. I am always throwing out fun question to get others involved, fun remarks and things like that. I don't do drama and I don't get into peoples post about relationships. However, my health is open for discussion on FB. It sucks but recently with my gastric bypass surgery it is turning around. I mention this stuff to enlighten anyone that might be willing to take that step. I ignore the ads. Anyway, I love FB., so I try to ignore the crap.

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  6. I don't have those kinds of posts showing up on Facebook. I do use the Hide Post function when there is something I don't want to see. It is helpful, Danielle.

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  7. I hate the posts that start with, "I bet you won't copy and paste this to your page..." It's usually some emotional blackmail thing. Often if you like these things they then change their name. 'Like Farms' I think they're called.

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  8. Fortunately, I don't get a lot of weird solicitation-type posts. But I definitely hide posts when I do get such things. I guess it must be working? :)

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  9. I only friend people on Facebook if I'm either related to them, or know them. Doesn't matter if you're a friend of a friend, if I don't know who you are, I'm not accepting. I also decline invitations to groups, events, etc, unless I'm genuinely interested in them.

    For people who want to follow me because of my books, I have my Facebook author page. I don't set up many events on there, and when I do it's interviews or guest post appearances, and that kind of thing. Yes, I send invitations to the event to everyone, and I dare say Facebook reminds them about it closer to the event. But I don't post loads of stuff on the event page just so those I invited will be forced to see it, and after the invitations are sent out I don't make any attempt to contact my Facebook friends about it. I figure if people are interested, they'll say so and get the notification from Facebook. If not, that's up to them.

    I also try not to constantly post messages about buying my books, but instead concentrate on sharing things I find around the web that I consider interesting enough to share, post about my furbabies, as well as posting a couple of random posts if anything worth mentioning happens in my day. This applies both to my personal profile and my author page (the main difference in them being that you'll get more of the random things that happened in my day type posts on my personal profile).

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  10. i'm still a facebook novice learning the ropes as i go along. i don't like being put in groups without my permission. that irks me.

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  11. This is interesting to me. My FB doesn't reflect that. Do you know the selling things? I rarely see those (maybe because I put ad block on my computer -- I now no longer see any of the paid ads on the right rail or other sites too. Easiest and best free thing I've ever done!)

    I must have a zillion pages people want me to like (mostly I don't) and if they add me to groups I tend to "leave the group" as soon as I'm sure it's something I don't want. Mostly it isn't. I also have a few people hidden. These tend to be folks that we were "friends" with while I was working at other television stations, partly to keep aware of what others were doing. Now, there are only a handful I really "care" about and want to know about their families or work. But I don't want to unfriend. Make sure in your friend settings that if there are folks like that, you unfollow them (but it won't unfriend them and you can still visit their wall and they can still see your posts. To change that, unfriend.)

    It is annoying. But it is a wonderful connection tool! (Oh, and the leggings? What's up with that, anyway? Unless you are a toothpick and we all know I'm on the polar end of the spectrum, they don't look good on much of anyone! I hope that trend passes!)

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  12. You should post it. Seriously.

    Like Betty, I have roughly 43 "friends" on FB, and most of them I've silenced so I don't see their updates.

    Have you considered blocking those "friends" who don't get the hint? If someone won't leave you alone after you've said you're not interested (and you shouldn't have to tell them you can't have soy to get them to stop pushing their product), it's time for them to go. You're not a friend to them. You're a potential customer.

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