To unfriend or block, that is the question

 

Image via CrunchBase

We have each found situations where we are annoyed with people we are connected to on Facebook. They either post too much, post TMI (too much information) kind of stuff, or stuff we find offensive or goes against our own beliefs. What can you do? I have seen many people use the "block" feature to remove them from their news feed. I think that can be a bit harsh... There are several options you can use to remove posts from your news feed. You don't need to block people... you can:

1.  Remove them from showing in your news feed. Just go to their profile, hover your mouse over the "Friends" button (it is checked when you are friends) and a drop down appears. In the drop down "uncheck" show in news feed. That way you are still connected as "friends" but don't have to see the stuff they post all the time. There are more options if you click on "settings" just below "show in news feed".
2. Hide the stalker side bar on the right by clicking "hide sidebar" in the bottom right corner. This will help keep you from seeing everything your friends are posting and commenting on.
3. You can hide specific posts by hovering the mouse over the upper right hand corner the post you want to hide. A little drop down arrow appears, and you can click "hide post".. I generally do that after each post I read. You can also use the option to report the post to Facebook if it is spam. When you are viewing comments on a friends post, when you hover over the top right corner, the option appears to report that specific comment as spam.
4. You can use the block feature, but then you cannot contact each other at all through Facebook (you can't see them, they can't see you, unless you log out or create a new profile). So this is good if someone is belligerent or posts useless stuff all the time and has no social value at all (spammers) and you know you will never have a need to connect. But if its just because they "post too much" or "post opinions you disagree with", I suggest one of the first three options...

Facebook has a lot of features, you just have to poke around to find them. Feel free to ask me. How do you manage your Facebook News Feed?