Question from Pam: I have a question Rick. If I block a friend on Facebook, will Facebook tell her I blocked her? I hope the answer is no.
I know I could unfriend her but then my profile would pop up under “People you may know” on her page and that would tip her off that I had unfriended her.
Since I work with this person, I’d rather not upset her, but some of her posts are very crude and I don’t want them showing up on my page. Can you advise?
Rick’s answer: Pam, if you block your “friend” on Facebook she will not be notified of the block.
But that being said, she will probably figure it out rather quickly because she won’t be able to “see” you on Facebook anymore, and she won’t be able to contact you via chat or instant message.
In short, it will appear to your co-worker that you have just disappeared from Facebook altogether. But since you work together, she’ll probably find out that you’re still on Facebook and realize that you blocked her.
In my opinion, the best way to handle this situation is to keep your co-worker as a Facebook friend, but simply unfollow her. That way she’ll still see your posts and photos, but you won’t see hers in your newsfeed.
What’s more, once you have unfollowed your friend, your other friends won’t see her posts in your newsfeed either. However, if she is friends with them also, your other friends will still see her offensive posts but they’ll show in their own newsfeeds, not yours.
If you decide to go that route, follow these steps to unfollow your undesirable Facebook friend:
1 – Visit the Timeline page of the person you wish to unfollow.
2 – If you’re using Facebook on a laptop or desktop computer simply hover your mouse over the button labeled Following until a drop-down menu appears, then click Unfollow [your friend’s name].
If you’re using the Facebook app on a mobile device just tap the Friendship icon (it looks like a tiny person with a check mark beside it) and then tap Unfollow.
That’s all there is to it. You are still “friends” with this person, but her posts will no longer show up in your newsfeed.
And by the way, if you’re wondering whether your friend will be notified that you have unfollowed her, she won’t be. From her perspective, everything will appear to be the same as it always was.
I hope this helps, Pam. Good luck!
Bonus tip: This post has some more (bit different) info on this same topic. I believe it just might interest you.
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