Why are you ignoring me on Facebook?

Between the people that I have met online and those that I have met in person, a small percentage of them have asked why I ignore then on Facebook. After giving the same explanation time and time again, I thought it would be worth explaining it one last time, here on my personal blog.

There are two distinct scenarios where this question will arise. The first is when I repeatedly ignore Fan and Group Requests. The other is much different and involves a chat session going unanswered. Of the two, the only one which I feel guilty about is the chat session.

Fan and Page Requests:

As I have said in my Twitter and Facebook Annoyances post, I am very particular about what I support, especially on Facebook. For example, if my local tobacconist were to create a Fan or Group page for Kensington Tobacconist, I would support it in a heartbeat. I am a regular customer there and recommend the business anytime I find someone locally looking to purchase cigars.

To expand on that example, lets say that a friend sent me something to invite me to become a fan or follow the group page for AutoZone. In this instance, I probably would ignore the request. While I do shop at a local AutoZone, I just as frequently purchase automotive items from PepBoys, Advanced Auto, and NAPA. I wouldn’t recommend AutoZone any more than I would the rest, so the request would go ignored.

I feel that in order for me to support a business on Facebook, it has to show me that it is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty for its customers. In the examples above, AutoZone is just a place to buy automotive supplies. Kensington Tobacconist, on the other hand, is a place to buy cigars as well as being a place were I can hang out for hours at a time while chatting it up with friends.

Chat Sessions:

Chat sessions are one thing I always feel guilty about ignoring, although I am rarely aware that I am ignoring them. Because I use my computer on a regular basis, I generally leave many of the heavy use applications open. One of those applications is Mozilla Firefox. Within a single FireFox window I generally have about a half dozen tabs open, that stay open. Those tabs may include the Stogie Review Dashboard, Walt In PA Dashboard, Stogie Review Fan Forums, Google Wave, and Facebook.

This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The issue comes up when I walk away from the computer, as I do regularly, to attend to other business in the house. More often than not, if a chat session goes unanswered it is because I am not in the room when the message appears. When I do find it, fifteen to twenty minutes later, it is often too late and the person who started the chat session has logged out of Facebook.

The only time a chat session is purposely ignored is if I am reading. I often read books near my computer because it is kept in the only room in the house that I smoke cigars. As I lean back in my chair, puffing on a cigar, reading silently along in my book, I ignore any chat notices I may hear along the way. When I get to the end of a chapter I’ll take a look at what was sent but it is often too late and the other person is offline.