What happens when your friends and/or business clients lie to you about their activities or obligations and you catch them via social media? Do you call them out on it and risk losing a friend/client?
- Ryan, via email
This is why it is best to abstain from social media while lying about your whereabouts. If you tell a friend you can’t make dinner because you’re stuck at the office, no need to Instagram your evening at a Jay-Z concert. But when you’re lied to, pick your battles as you would with any lie. Some lies are harmless or originate with people we don’t care about, and some can corrode trust and friendships or damage business relationships. You just have to decide what you’re willing to put up with from friends and colleagues and reconsider relationships that cause unneeded drama. If simply pointing out someone’s self-documented lie results in the loss of a friend or client, the relationship probably falls into the painfully dramatic category to start with. And there are ways to call someone out without being too obnoxious—you can always “like” an incriminating photo or status update and see if an apology follows.
My friend is the mother of a toddler and has created a Twitter account for her daughter. She sent an email to our friend group asking everyone to follow the child. Is there a nice way to tell her I don’t have any interest in reading the made-up musings of a 2-year-old? My friends feel the same way!
- Blech, Brooklyn
Sounds like someone was removed from the group email thread. No need to tell your friend that her idea makes you want to vomit. Just don’t follow the kid. Or follow her—who cares? The mother of a two-year-old will likely lose steam for the project in a matter of days, anyway. If she does persist and the tweets are more than you can stomach, some Twitter apps, such as Tweetdeck, allow you to filter out tweets that contain certain words or user handles. Just be sure to express enthusiasm for appropriate displays of motherly pride, such as photos and videos she shares on her own Facebook account or over email. You don’t want your friend to think you are slighting her and her daughter, just their social media strategy.
This story originally appeared in our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, in the iTunes App store.