Recently we have had a few HOs sending us friend requests on social media. This has mostly been after we have sat for them but in some instances they have found our profile and sent requests before a sit. How do you deal with these requests?
If you would ever intend to repeat, then accept but if you won’t be going back then you may decline.
You could decline and just say you are winding down on your social media activity?
Its all personal choice really, no right or wrong decision.
1 Like
This happened to me only a couple of weeks ago. As the request was made on LinkedIn, and the lady is the CEO of a successful company, after an initial surprise, I had no problem accepting her.
I might have felt differently if it were, say, Facebook, but my active days on Facebook are long gone, so it really wouldn’t matter, I guess.
2 Likes
After the sit is fine, but I find it weird when owners send you a request before the sit. It does feel a bit like spying. I accept reluctantly, cause I’ve got nothing to hide.
2 Likes
I would just ignore it.
I have only become FB friends with one lovely host who we sat for 3 times and did become friends with. Her posts pop up now & then and I get to see her lovely kids & doggies again!
Otherwise i am very inactive on FB these days so would see no point- especially with a host I’ll probably never meet again anyway!
I never accept ANY ‘friend’ requests on FB. I only use FB friending for family and very close friends so I have maybe 50 fb ‘friends’. I use a group that I created for everyone else who asks it’s called Bonny’s England with 1.1 thousand members.
1 Like
I would accept as long as I recognised who it was when they requested.
My life is an open book!
4 Likes
Yeah I don’t accept social media requests unless it’s family and close friends, because personally I just don’t see the point. Happened to me once and I just ignored it… I figured if the owners asked me anything I can just explain that I don’t really use Facebook. I’ve had one owner follow me on Instagram but it’s a public travel blog account, so I’m fine with that. It’s completely up to you and if you don’t feel comfortable with it then don’t do it.
1 Like
I accept. When they are posting too often I mute them in my stream.
Anyway, they won’t see anything more about me because the great majority of my posts on FB is public. (Like everything that we are posting here is public.)
On FB, I often join a local group when I am there, for information about markets, concerts, parties, etc. And in some cases I remain a member of the group after I have left. It can be a nice souvenir, to be reminded of village life in France now and then!
4 Likes
If I get on with the home owners, and I have mostly, then I have no problem accepting their request.
3 Likes
I keep my Facebook to friends only. More flexible with LinkedIn, but there’d be no benefit to a host connecting that way.
1 Like
My Facebook and Instagram are public and I actually have my Facebook link in my sitter profile. I figure it can’t hurt to give them another source to learn about me. The content is pretty benign–mainly travel photos and links to content I publish on my personal development blog. You won’t see anything about politics, social issues, rants about problems in my personal life,etc…,so I am not worried about the profile working against me in any way as far as getting sits.
Not sure how many people actually look at it, but in all the years I have been sitting, I have only had a handful of HOs send me a friend request and I don’t have an issue with it. But I can understand some people wanting to keep their different ‘worlds’ separate.
3 Likes
Ours too. We actively encourage everyone we meet to follow our travel page which is where youll learn about our lives.
2 Likes
This happened once, pre-sit, and I accepted b/c I felt comfortable doing so, and she asked ahead of time via THS. My FB friends don’t show to anyone and I don’t mind people getting a sense of me and my sense of humor.
The fact that we’re essentially peers, age-wise and life stage-wise helped. I’ve gone back to her city and hung out.
1 Like