How Facebook works is all about friendships and connections between people; even if at the beginning we may want to add a lot of people sending random friend requests is not recommendedotherwise the system blocks the user who even risks being banned from Facebook.If we have never used Facebook before or have not delved into its use, we will show you in the following guide how to make friends and how to manage Facebook requests correctly, explaining how to follow a person, how to add them as friends, how to limit friend requests, how to block receiving updates (still remaining friends) and finally how to block an unpleasant person.
READ ALSO -> What friends and strangers see about me on Facebook; guide to privacy settings
1) Follow profiles even without friendship
Instead of adding all users and VIPs as friends on Facebook (which is not always possible with VIPs) we can also limit ourselves to following them, becoming fans and thus obtaining status updates on our profile (if the user shares posts and images with privacy set to Public).
To activate the updates of a particular profile, go to the user or VIP page and press the button follow; in doing so we will not immediately become friends but we will be able to receive updates on our main timeline, thus remaining updated on the events of the VIPs we want to follow or of the people who interest us.
On this topic we can read our guide on how follow friends with status updates.
2) Limit the number of friend requests
Basic Facebook allows anyone to add us as friends: just search for our name and surname or other information about us and send the friend request. This can be very risky from the point of view of privacy: it is therefore better to “tighten” and show friend requests only to friends of friends.
To prevent everyone from adding us as friends open the Facebook page, click on the profile picture at the top right, click on Settings and privacy -> Privacy controlwe select the item How people can find you on Facebookclick on Continues and, in the window that will appear, press next to the item Who can send you friend requests and we set Friends of friends.
We confirm on Avanti and we also modify other items relating to privacy, as well as choosing which friends to add to our profile.
Except in the initial phase of the account to add a person to your friends list it is also necessary that there is a minimum of connection, that is, that there is at least one mutual friend. Facebook only wants you to add people you know in real life so if there are too many ignored and unanswered friend requests it becomes a problem.
3) Delete pending friend requests
Sometimes it would also be appropriate delete pending requests before they are deleted, so as not to allow them to signal that we are strangers.
As seen in another guide review pending and sent friend requests it can also be a way to avoid problems or spam reports.
To do this, go to the Facebook home, press the profile image at the top right, press the name of our profile, go to the screen Amici and finally press on the item Friendship request.
4) How to unfriend correctly
Now it is possible remove friends going to their profile, placing the mouse on the word Amici. No notification appears for the person you unfriend, so theoretically they might not even notice.
With a trick, however, it is possible see who takes our friendship o receive notifications whenever someone unfriends you.
With another hidden trick it is finally possible unfriend ghost profiles with deactivated accounts.
If you don’t want to remove a friend but you don’t want to see anything they do or publish anymore, remember that it’s possible move friends to the acquaintances list on Facebook to hide them in Home.
5) Hide your friends list from others
From Facebook we can too hide friends list from othersso that nobody can know how many friends we have, which friends we hang out with and who we recently added to Facebook.
To proceed, let’s go to the path Settings and privacy -> Settingswe press on the menu Privacy and, next to the entry Who can see your friends list?click on the Modify button and choose the most suitable option from the drop-down menu (Amici o Only mebased on your preferences).
Conclusions
As seen friendships on Facebook work more complicated than expected and, unless a family member or a schoolmate is added, great care and prudence must be exercised in casual additions and also in those of people who have not seen each other for some time.
We remind you that, even if it is no longer fashionable to add many friends, if we make too many friend requests we run the risk of get banned from Facebook: if this happens, the process is irreversible and leads to the cancellation of the entire profile and all shared material (including posts, videos and photos).
For more tips on how to protect your privacy on Facebook we can read our articles on how to hide personal information and how to do the private Facebook profile.
