I have RULES! New Rules!

I had a rule for my social media interaction from the moment I opened my first facebook page: Only people I knew online or in person. And I kept my rule with my first facebook page.

Which I had to take down, or rather, facebook had to take down because, I broke their rules. (Honest, it was a misunderstanding, I wasn't spamming, I was fundraising.)

So-- I made a new page with a new name and new rules. I also got busy with the security buttons. I would only friend  people who knew me, and could find me.

And then I decided I wanted to network on facebook.

So I morphed my rules: if they could find me, or if I was ballsy enough to send them a friend request and they accepted, they were in.

This worked well for awhile, until facebook rolled out not only the new changes of a couple of weeks ago, but the changes for the future. I wanted to play, but I wanted to only play with a certain kind of people.

So I pruned my friends list. I used the Coffee Shop System: If I walked into a coffee shop and saw them, would I a)recognize them b)pretend I didn't see them, c)or walk up and say hi.

If the answer to A as No, I pruned them. If the answer to B  was Yes, cut.  A C Yes and they stayed. (And then I pruned some kids who I had been censoring my language for and a few people that I got tired of  reading statuses that alternated between whining about their life and making others feel bad for whining about their's.)

When the new changes roll again, I think I will cut again using the Fart Method: If I tooted loudly in front of them, would they pretend they didn't hear it or laugh at me. The pretenders go. Come on, when an adult lets one loose among friends, it's funny!

It doesn't mean that I don't like the people that I cut from my list, some of them were hard to X out. It's totally not them, it's me. I just want to know that I will feel comfortable sharing my music and movie choices with them and know that it won't change the way that they think about me.

Meanwhile, I have a g+ and twitter account. I don't plan on sharing my love of  bad '80's Romantic Comedies, and brags about my kids with people on there.

I only have a one rule on g+: Circle up anyone who I damn well feel like. (Two caveats: If I  have to click "Would you like google to translate this page?"  or are men with circles only full of women-- I'm not circling back.)

But basically, I'm a Circle Ho.
Ditto Twitter.
Find me.