Initiation of the Circles

The other day I read a status on Google+ where someone very intelligently created a disclaimer that she would add people as of right now but in the future they might be deleted or  removed from her circles.

Why did I think it was intelligent?

As Google+ is in a limited user phase (geeks like me would call it beta) many of us start meeting new people and new relationships. Later on the time goes by and you realize that the person you added into your network (in this case circle) is annoying the hell out of you by promoting their stuff and talking about things that you have no interest. So then a difficult decision comes into play should I disconnect with this person.

Disconnecting, Unfriending, or Unfollowing

People are so into these social networks many will get offended if you removed them from a circle, unfriended them on facebook, or unfollowed them on twitter. I periodically remove people off facebook when I start seeing I have no interaction with them and I start seeing updates that are of no interest to me. On Twitter it becomes a bit more difficult since I am usually reading lists and very rarely I catch anything that might bother me. Since Facebook is for closer friends I am pickier on Facebook. If I unfollowed a user on twitter it must have been because I don’t want any public associating with that brand or user. An unfollowed user for me on twitter must have been spamming, excessive self promotion, no interaction with me, tried to publicly attack me or any of the people i respect and a good list of items which that user should not be proud of.

I am a firm believer in keeping quality connections and so far it has worked perfectly across various platforms.

Repercussion when Disconnecting

On most occasions I have disconnected with people and the other person understood or never mentioned anything. On other occasions the same people that are usually into themselves ended up being offended by my disconnection. I had a handful of people that I have unfollowed for more than a year and till this day I get negative comments and personal attacks just because I decided to disconnect.

Every attack that I get from those individuals confirms even more I should have never connected with them and made a great decision disconnecting them from my online presence. They can keep ranting and complaining they missed the boat and for me those individuals don’t exist.

The benefits goes over the repercussions

I have been approached by many people and have been defended publicly from those that decided to attack me for no reason. That is when I see who are the people that respect me and value what i do. One of the benefits of being online is that everyone is watching what is going on. Many others feel the same away about those trolls and individuals who I disconnected from. This has helped me connect in a stronger way with them.

New Tool Excitement

I guess the new tool excitement of being able to use Google+ when others are still waiting for that access. Will make you think everyone in Google+ is great to connect with. I have seen some of the individuals which I disconnected from in other networks on Google+ which serves as an alert to choose my contacts wisely. There are good people and bad people in everything and I know for a fact a few are already lurking in Google+.

Is there a need for a disclaimer

I personally think in the same way that when you establish a relationship with someone there is an expectation that if things don’t work out you will go your separate ways then it should be the same online. You should be more careful online because it is easier to bump into these individuals over and over again.

I think it was an intelligent move by that user giving the disclaimer I’m just not sure if it goes with my personality.

Do you tell people up front what are your expectations to continue interacting with them? Or do you give people a chance to know them and then decide?

Have fun in Google+ and make sure you have quality Circles that can support you even after the beta testing.

Just to poke a little fun on how Excited I am from Google + I decided to leave this picture below as my avatar what do you think.

Header Photo credit  by fdecomite