You Can Finally "Snooze" People On Facebook If You're Tired Of Seeing Their Posts
As much as I hate to admit it, I probably log on to Facebook at least three times a day. Every time I log on and scroll down my News Feed, I can identify at least two or three things that make me want to either unfriend someone, unlike a page, or leave a group. It's nothing personal (usually); it's just that not every piece of content is relevant to me. But sometimes, the content from these sources is relevant to me, which is what keeps me from disconnecting entirely. Thankfully, Facebook has come up with a solution to this dilemma. Here's how to snooze people on Facebook if you need a break from their posts for a while.
Let's say you have a friend who's promoting an event of theirs on Facebook. You've already said in the event page that you're going, and you're excited for your friend. But they're constantly posting status updates and reminders about the event from their personal page. You love them, but if you see another request to RSVP ASAP, you're gonna lose it. Simply click on the ellipses in the top right corner of their post, where you would normally go to unfollow them forever or unfriend them (harsh). Instead, you can now opt to snooze them. Doing so will hide their content from your feed for 30 days.
Think of the Snooze button as a soft unfollow. Unfollowing a friend means that you won't see their content again, unless you decide to go back and follow them again. While unfollowing can feel satisfying in the moment, it's not a great long-term solution. Most of the time, you probably forget to ever go back and follow them again after you've cooled off, and when you do eventually remember, you find a ton of life updates you missed out on. Wait, she's engaged?!
With the Snooze button's 30-day parameters, the friend or group's content will return to your feed within a month, which is (hopefully) enough of an absence to make your heart grow fonder. If not, then it may be time to consider an unfollow — but hey, at least you tried!
The button will also be beneficial to the keepers of popular, content-saturated groups and pages who want to maintain the reach that they have worked so hard to build. These groups and pages produce a lot of content. I mean, they have to in order to stay relevant. But this can be a turn-off to some users. Even if those users opt to unfollow instead of leaving, this action negatively affects long-term content engagement. Now, if users are feeling overwhelmed, they have the option of snoozing instead.
If I join a group and I'm constantly flooded with updates from it, I find myself trying to stay up to speed on all of the content, which can become addicting. Then, eventually, I get overwhelmed and resent the group, which usually results in an unfollow or a total departure. But sometimes when I do this, I'll wind up missing the group and wanting to return. With the Snooze button, you don't have to deal with the FOMO; you can just take a step back and return in 30 short days.
The update comes at the end of a year full of criticism for the social networking site. Many have questioned if Facebook could be doing more to curb the distribution of so-called fake news on the website, and whether or not its inability to do so is to blame for the current political climate. There has also been a larger conversation about the impact of social media in general on society, and whether or not these websites have a responsibility to reel in the (sometimes unhealthy) instant gratification and endless feedback that they have added to our daily lives.
Hopefully, the Snooze button will help us decrease the pressure to be on and consuming information all the time. TBH, I'm already thinking of a few ways to use it.
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