We’ve all been there, you or a friend are getting ready to move and you promise to keep in touch. A year later you’ve upgraded your phone and you’re scrolling through your contacts thinking to yourself, “who the hell is this?”
Due to my recent phone upgrade and all the contacts I had to re-enter or delete, I am encouraging you to spring clean your social media world.
The frequent moves we make–friends PCSing, new friends moving in, and of course our friends and family back home- results in us building large and diverse social networks all over the world. But how many people do we actually keep in touch with?
There’s your sign it’s time to let go of people.
Spring Cleaning Your Cell Phone
Granted most of us upgrade our phones more often than we PCS, it’s still a good idea to scroll through your contacts and delete the contacts you don’t recognize or that you haven’t talked to in a year.
“Well I’ll text Jane tomorrow to see how she’s been. I won’t delete her just yet.” Sure ya will. Just like you keep those size 2 pants because you might fit into them again once you start working out. Face it, you’re just as likely to text that person later as you are to fit back into your skinny jeans. Besides, that person hasn’t made the effort to talk to you, so just call it what it is and delete their number.
Spring Cleaning Your Facebook and Other Social Profiles
Congratulations on your 3,458 friends! Now how many of them do you actually keep in touch with or even look at their Facebook page? Probably a third of them. You’ve got two choices:
Go on an unfriending spree..but don’t announce it
Why not unfriend people you don’t follow? Chances are “your friend” won’t even notice because…well, again it’s not like they are commenting on the cute photos you’ve posted. If they miss you then you’ll probably get a nastygram wondering why you unfriended them or you’ll receive a friend request. And with the click of a button, voilà, you’re friends again!
Whatever you do, don’t make a huge dramatic announcement that you’re trimming your friend list. That’s just tacky.
Unlock the power of lists
Facebook and Twitter make it easy for you to make lists of people and profiles that matter to you. You can make lists for your family members, classmates, or prior duty stations! Learn how to make Facebook lists and Twitter lists to clean up your friends.
Got a friend you keep missing updates from? Go to their profile, click the “Friends” button on the right side of the cover image and select “Get Notifications.”
Spring Clean Your Online Image Your Job Might Depend on It
In the age of the internet and our ever busy lives, it’s so easy to lose track of everything that we put out there on the internet for the world to see. Make sure that you are portraying the image of you that you want people to see! Do you have an account out there you forgot you had?
MySpace…ring a bell?
Got a half-assed LinkedIn profile? Try these 4 Super Easy Things You Can Do To Tune Up Your LinkedIn Profile Right Now!
Or did you start a Twitter account then gave up because it’s hard enough keeping up with Facebook, Instagram and whatever else you may have? Either use it or lose it! Many employers check out prospective employees on social networks to learn more about who they are? What does your online image say about you?
