Receiving Unwanted Invitations and Friends on Social Network Sites

When you join a Social Network Site (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze, etc.) sooner or later you will receive invitations from people that you do not want to associate with or connect to. It may be a boost to the ego, but you need to think through those invitations. Since many people do not want to offend others or get them mad, the invitations are often accepted, only to be regretted later on.

Since they are social networks on the internet, it often does not occur to users that there are some unscupulous persons who only use such networks for dates and exploitation.Since the world continues passing judgements based largely on the company we keep, some scrutiny of Social Network Site invitations is in order as well. It is not by accident that many parents closely watch their children's MySpace for shady characters. You will need to watch your associations also.

Connecting with those that you would rather not connect with can also pose some privacy concerns as well. When you receive invitations from people you do not want to connect with, remember that “NO” is an option. You can either tell them no or just ignore the request. Ignoring the request is not the same social mistake that occurs when you ignore someone in public. On Social Network Sites, ignoring people is perfectly acceptable. If you are not comfortable with using NO or ignoring them, you can ask for further information. On hubpages, you have the freedom to choose whether or not you want to allow others to post to your hubs. This is part of your control. When you ignore requests you may have to deal with the reminders that you have an outstanding invitation.

It is often better to no accept such invitations from people you don’t know. The social network is essentially your circle of friends and connections. Such networks work best if they are among people you know and trust. When invitations arrive from people you don’t know or that you find annoying. If they become intrusive, or abusive, you always have the option of reporting it to the network. Do not hesitate to report such behaviors. You may be keeping yourself from cyber stalkers.

Although you may deal honestly with Social Network Sites, there are some people that exploit them using avatars and made up personas. The person whom you think you have in your network or listed as a friend may be very different that who or what you thought they were. If the material in their profile does not add up or make sense, you may want to reconsider accepting their invitation.

You can also protect yourself from unwanted invitations by changing the options on your profile. You can choose what information is there and who has access to it. These are simple measure that can make a big difference in your Social Network Experiences. Much like you are selective with your face to face friends, you need to also be selective with friends and connections on the Social Network Sites. These sites can be very powerful in terms of business and socializing, but the key to unleashing that power in a good way is maintaining a good solid foundation of friends and associates that you trust.