Please help a FB newbie!

[Deleted]

Well, I finally did it and got on FB.  I have a really good IRL friend and asked her to friend me so I could see her page and posts which are mostly big things in her life like her pets and her dad's memorial service plus great pictures and quotes.  All cool so far, but now I seem to get everything that her other friends post and, to put it mildly, that's not my cup of tea 'cause there's a lot of really negative political stuff.  Please tell me how I can set things so I see my friend's posts but not her friends' posts.  

This ancient online dinosaur appreciates your help!

[Happy prose]

I think they are 'tagging' your friend, and she has her settings for friends to see things she's tagged in. You would not normally see her friends' posts.

[Tennesseer]

If your friend 'Likes' something one of her Facebook friends posts, I do believe it will then show up on all your friend's friends' Facebook acount pages, including yours too.  No way to fix that.

[debthaven]

Actually, there is something you can do ...

At the top right corner of the FB posts, there is a tiny arrowhead pointing down. If you click on it, it will give you the option NOT to see that post (as well as several broader options, ie I don't want to see posts like that post, or posts from that poster, etc). You can "train" your FB feed using those options (at least to some extent).

[Deleted]

I think you can also control this by not "following" her. You go to her page where you will see three buttons.  The middle one says "following." Click on that to turn it off (or click again sometime to turn it back on).

Her posts and her friends' posts will no longer show up on your feed. To see what she posts, you would maybe go to her page once a week and catch up. If she wants to send you a message, she can still do that.

I've done this with several people who simply post too much.  They were burying everyone else's posts under a deluge of surveys, article, funny sayings, etc.

This is not the same as "unfriending" someone, and this person will not know you aren't following her.

[justme]

There's an arrow in the top right of a post. If you click on it one of the options is "I don't want to see posts by x anymore" or similar wording to that. It'll then hide any posts from that person. You'd have to do it for every person, but it keeps you from having to restrict what from your friend shows up in your feed.


Whoops, didn't see debts post!

[joemilitary]

Just put white out on the screen. problem solved.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2015 9:37:37 GMT -5 joemilitary said:

Just put white out on the screen. problem solved.

[Deleted]

Thanks, everyone, I did the "don't follow" thing and it works!  I love her and would be happy to see her posts, but she "likes" everyone's cute dog and cat photos, inspirational sayings and prayers, plus a lot of derogatory political commentary and I don't need all that.  I will just check her page every couple of days.  

[happyhoix]

May 28, 2015 9:13:26 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I think you can also control this by not "following" her. You go to her page where you will see three buttons.  The middle one says "following." Click on that to turn it off (or click again sometime to turn it back on).

Her posts and her friends' posts will no longer show up on your feed. To see what she posts, you would maybe go to her page once a week and catch up. If she wants to send you a message, she can still do that.

I've done this with several people who simply post too much.  They were burying everyone else's posts under a deluge of surveys, article, funny sayings, etc.

This is not the same as "unfriending" someone, and this person will not know you aren't following her.

Hum I will have to try this with MIL.

She's a very sweet and kind person but likes a lot of posts along the lines of Obama is a secret Muslim. Right now she's loading it up with pro-Duggar posts.

Love her to death. Her political/religious views not so much.

[Tennesseer]

May 28, 2015 16:31:43 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

May 28, 2015 9:13:26 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I think you can also control this by not "following" her. You go to her page where you will see three buttons.  The middle one says "following." Click on that to turn it off (or click again sometime to turn it back on).

Her posts and her friends' posts will no longer show up on your feed. To see what she posts, you would maybe go to her page once a week and catch up. If she wants to send you a message, she can still do that.

I've done this with several people who simply post too much.  They were burying everyone else's posts under a deluge of surveys, article, funny sayings, etc.

This is not the same as "unfriending" someone, and this person will not know you aren't following her.

Hum I will have to try this with MIL.

She's a very sweet and kind person but likes a lot of posts along the lines of Obama is a secret Muslim. Right now she's loading it up with pro-Duggar posts.

Love her to death. Her political/religious views not so much.

Won't you at least share some of those posts for a while? We can use a bit of laughter on these boards for a while.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2015 16:31:43 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Love her to death. Her political/religious views not so much.

Exactly!  I love my friend but not her friends' photoshopped pictures purporting to show Obama in Muslim garb with demands to sign their online petition to save Christianity from the GLBT community.  

[debthaven]

Remember that if you "unfollow" somebody, you won't see ANY of their posts. Even the posts you might like to see.

Personally I prefer to "train" my FB feed than unfollow people I really care about because over time I have realized I never think of checking out their FB. But that's great if it works for you!

I did that too for somebody but it's not somebody close. (DD's best friend's mom). Now every time she calls I think "Oh crap I forgot to check out her FB" so I ignore her call, check out her FB, then call her back. She has an ongoing, very serious issue, but because of that issue, she has been on extended sick leave for two years. (She's probably on disability at this point.) And she can't sleep so she posts literally 24/7 and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I wanted to see her updates on how her case was progressing but those posts were so few and far between and so drowned in other crap I often missed them anyway. So I "unfollowed" her, and DD keeps me informed. I check her FB before I call her, but it takes me literally 2-3h to get through a month of her posts, so I don't call her often anymore. I just don't have the time or energy to wade through all those posts. 

I have very little extended family. One older cousin is rabidly anti-vaccine, which I just hate. I finally "trained" my FB to only see her posts about her or her (my) family, and none of her anti-vaccine or miracle cancer cure posts. That works for me. :-)

[Deleted]

Actually, if you click on the right where it gives you the number of "new" posts, the person whose posts you aren't following will still show up. So you can glance at what he/she has posted today and decide if it is worth clicking on or not.

I love the "not following" option. But that's because it follows the KISS rule. 

[debthaven]

Thanks SS, I didn't know that.

In this case it wouldn't help since this person posts at least 10-15 times a day (so at least 300-450 new posts per month). 

But, it's good to know. :-)