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Changes at Facebook social networking site cause problems for users

Updated on September 6, 2015

New Facebook problems and changes

In my opinion Facebook is still the best social networking site but it is becoming more and more difficult to understand or use. I am far from being alone in my opinion.

Loads of people have been complaining about the recently added Timeline which was forced on us all whether we wanted it or not. I have gotten used to it though would much prefer the old system. There are many other problems with the Facebook site though.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder & CEO by Elaine Chan and Priscilla Chan
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder & CEO by Elaine Chan and Priscilla Chan | Source

Friend requests cause problems

It seems that the whole idea of social networking is not what Facebook is about because it actively prevents users from networking in many cases. The site suggests new friends but then penalises you for sending them friend requests.

You may want to be friends with someone you know of or share interest and friends with only to receive a crazy notice saying: “Friend Requests Blocked for 30 Days
We received feedback that you sent friend requests to people you don’t know, so you won’t be able to send friend requests for 30 days.

Surely making friends is what social networking should be about? Why does Facebook suggest friends for us if it doesn’t want us to have them?

At the same time it encourages users to help newcomers on the site by suggesting friends for them. This means you can go through your own lists of friends and suggest them in blocks of up to 50. It is very unlikely the person you are helping knows most of these people but he or she is allowed to add them, which, of course, means the rule about not adding people you don’t know doesn’t make any sense.

Data collection agency

How on Earth does Facebook know who any of us know or don’t know anyway? Many people have said they think Facebook is being used as a data collection agency. Those who believe in conspiracy theories tie this in with the CIA and think this is very sinister but if that were true it does not explain how Facebook really knows who any of us really know.

Even if Facebook really is just another face of Big Brother watching everyone in a global police state or New World Order reality, it has no way of knowing who we actually know in our personal lives. And why does it matter to Facebook anyway? Why should it be of any concern?

Facebook logo

Facebook logo in public domain
Facebook logo in public domain

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5,000 Friends Total

Recently a new problem came about very suddenly and unexpectedly. Many of us are aware that Facebook only allows a total of 5,000 friends, and so if we have a figure around that number make sure we do not add too many. I keep a check on this total and only add new friends if I think they should be on my list when friend requests arrive. Or at least I did!

Facebook suddenly gave me an additional 667 friends overnight and I had no chance of approving or rejecting any of them. This brought my total to 5,667. Really great, I thought, at last Facebook has relaxed its limits for the total of friends you can have, but I was very wrong. Although that new total is the Friends total that is now displayed if I try to add any new friends a notice comes up saying I am only allowed a total of 5,000 and must remove some friends before I can add any more.

So Facebook is saying you can only have 5,000 friends in total but at the same time is adding way over that number to your total and not letting you have any say in the matter. If I want to add new friends now I first have to delete well over 600 people.

Making matters even worse, I don’t know who they are. If you have thousands of friends it becomes increasingly hard to scroll down the page to see all the names and thumbnail images displayed. So how do I find out who all these new friends are and whether I want to keep them?

I am not alone though, because many Facebook users suddenly had hundreds of new friends added to their totals too. No official explanation was given. It was simply done. For example, one day I had 5,000 friends and the next day I had 5,667.

Facebook Friends

Losing friends and deleting them

Now it happens that every so often you are bound to lose friends anyway. Sometimes people become offended, with good reason or not, by what they see posted on your wall, and these people may decided to unfriend or block you. At other times face book users on your list will decide they have had enough of the site and delete their own Facebook account. Or they may get into trouble with Facebook and end up with their sites deleted by Facebook. In all these examples your Friends total will go down. I need mine to drop by well over 660. I have a long way to go before I can add any more Facebook friends!

I tried finding out who my new 660+ friends are by posting on my wall asking them to vote for a song of mine in the YouBloom Music Awards contest, and asked them to say Hello. Not one responded, so does that mean none of them read my Facebook wall? Or does it mean they don’t even exist? Who are my hundreds of mysterious new Facebook friends? Come out, come out, whoever you are!

UPDATE: Since publishing this hub I have learned that the additional friends are deactivated accounts. There is a way of removing them but it is time consuming. To find out the easiest way of doing so, check out this hub: http://iamrosa.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Remove-Deactivated-Friends-from-Your-Facebook-Timeline

© 2012 Steve Andrews

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