Unfortunately, this happens on all social media sites. My FB & Instagram accounts are private. But I still receive requests from a multitude of men requesting to follow me. If I don’t know them, I simply delete the request. This same thing happens on Goodreads. And that is more public than some other sites. If I receive a request from a male to be friends on Goodreads, I look at their lists of books read, their want to read list, etc. If a male has very few books read, with an unusually high amount of books in their to read list, and only female friends, I delete the request. I can easily do this as none of my sites are used in conjunction with work. There are people who use social media sites inappropriately, but you can usually tell when they are doing so. Delete and/or block requests you don’t care to accept. As you pointed out, we don’t always know who we are interacting with on social media, but if you are using a site for work, watch your followers behavior and if you sense anything amiss, delete and block them. It’s a shame we have to be so guarded on sites which we ourselves are using with honest intentions. Move forward with caution and awareness.
Agree it’s a bit creepy, but some of them might just really like your writing, and your best writing is the stuff that others can relate to; they can say, “my god, that could be me!” Anyway, when you work in a circus you can’t worry about the clowns! Keep going!
In a word, it’s creepy! It’s sad to me because the site can be a useful tool to make meaningful connections.
Yes, agreed!
Sorry you have to deal with creeps!
Thank you, Rick. It's rather frightening.
Thank you, Susan, for the really specific and well-thought-out suggestions. I will utilize them!
Unfortunately, this happens on all social media sites. My FB & Instagram accounts are private. But I still receive requests from a multitude of men requesting to follow me. If I don’t know them, I simply delete the request. This same thing happens on Goodreads. And that is more public than some other sites. If I receive a request from a male to be friends on Goodreads, I look at their lists of books read, their want to read list, etc. If a male has very few books read, with an unusually high amount of books in their to read list, and only female friends, I delete the request. I can easily do this as none of my sites are used in conjunction with work. There are people who use social media sites inappropriately, but you can usually tell when they are doing so. Delete and/or block requests you don’t care to accept. As you pointed out, we don’t always know who we are interacting with on social media, but if you are using a site for work, watch your followers behavior and if you sense anything amiss, delete and block them. It’s a shame we have to be so guarded on sites which we ourselves are using with honest intentions. Move forward with caution and awareness.
Agree it’s a bit creepy, but some of them might just really like your writing, and your best writing is the stuff that others can relate to; they can say, “my god, that could be me!” Anyway, when you work in a circus you can’t worry about the clowns! Keep going!