Knitting and social networking

Haven't resolved the service thing yet, except for a few measly hats for the troops (in 100 percent wool nobody will wear because of the handwashing, though how often do you wash your wool hats?).

Lots of stitchers are out there tweeting and FBing and Raveling. (Doesn't Classmates chap your collective derrieres? You have to pay to see who signed your guestbook; they're betting on raw curiosity, which when it comes to high school, I can live with.)

Anyway...help.

There are those of us--the non-digital native types--who view friends as people we've actually met or corresponded with or worked with. What is the etiquette then when someone you don't know "friends" you? Do you friend back? Or does it depend on the vehicle; the conventions being different from Twitter to Facebook to MySpace, etc.

Please illuminate.

Posted on January 22, 2009 08:32 by leslie
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January 22. 2009 12:21

5elementknitr

I don't friend people I don't know.  I just ignore it.  I don't hit the ignore button, I just don't do anything.  I'm rarely on Facebook - in fact, I don't even check it unless I get an email from it saying someone messaged/graffiti'd/friended me.  

Classmates is a drag, having to pay and all, but I have had a few Army buddies find me through that site, so that's cool.

5elementknitr |

January 22. 2009 19:53

John

I don't respond if someone "friends" me.  I am with you in my definition of friends...someone I've met, corresponded with, or perhaps work with.

With teenage children about I try to be aware of social networking sites, but don't participate myself.

It is fun on the rare occasion to find old friends via, say, blog sites though!  Smile

John |

January 22. 2009 20:31

Deborah Robson

I ignore people I don't know on FaceBook (although I may leave them in the queue in case I remember who they are later <wry grin>). On Twitter, I only follow people whose tweets are interesting, or who I care about connecting with that often. There's an O'Reilly "Missing Manual" for FaceBook. I have it from the library. Helpful. I'm not in a rush about all this--no time to be in a rush. Just experimenting.

Deborah Robson |

January 28. 2009 14:14

Kim Werker

For me, it does depend on the site. I use Facebook mostly for personal friendships, though as yarn-industry folks have been joining up in droves I've been using FB's great privacy settings to limit what work friends can and can't see. I ignore friend requests from strangers unless they indicate they're crocheters; in that case, I appreciate their desire to follow what I'm up to, but I limit what they can see of my profile.

I only follow people on Twitter if I'm interested in what they're saying - be they personal friends, work friends, news feeds, or personalities. On Twitter, there is no expectation at all to reciprocate follows.

On Ravelry, I friend everybody back. I do this because I work in the yarn industry, and Ravelry is a great way to sort of maintain a connection (impersonal as it may be) with people who are interested in what I'm doing. Same on CrochetMe.com.

In the end, it comes down to what you want to achieve through your participation on the site. It doesn't have to be the same on every site.

Kim Werker |

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