Ask The Hairy Dogfathers: Animal Overshare On Facebook

There’s such a thing as too much information, especially when it comes to animal rescue and Facebook. The Hairy Dogfathers have a few ideas to moderate the constant barrage of tear-inducing posts from enthusiastic over-sharers.


Hi Hairy Dogfathers,


What do you do if you have a Facebook friend who is ALWAYS posting on my Facebook about saving this animal or that pet in need? I sign in to see what my friends are up to, but I always end up on a guilt trip thanks to her countless animal-in-need posts (with a graphic photo attached, of course). Other people have started asking me why these kinds of posts are always on my timeline. How do I get her to stop being such an over-sharer?


Signed, Facebook Fan


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André says:


Dear Facebook Fan,


Social media can be a lot of fun, and people use it for a variety of reasons. Many people use it to express their passions, some share their art, others pictures of their kids. If you don’t like what a ‘Facebook friend’ is posting for the world to see, it doesn’t make you any less of a friend to ignore it. But if it’s starting to irritate you, you certainly have to do something about it. Thankfully, Facebook and other social media sites give you the ability to filter what comes up in your newsfeed, so instead of unfriending someone you can simply unfollow them. This way you can always check out her page and connect with her without being bombarded with posts you would rather not see.


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Kevin says:


Share this Hairy Dogfather story on her wall… I’m not kidding! It’s wonderful that people want to share pictures of animals in need, but being an over sharer isn’t helping anyone. In fact, sharing too much means that the post starts to collect useless comments or even worse, they make people desensitize to these types of posts. Not only are these comments useless, they also waste the time of the people who are working in real life to save the animal. The rescuers have to sort through all the comments to find the people who are willing to help by fostering, donating or adopting the animal. And let’s face it – most of the commenters are just making a “statement” and have no intention of providing real help.


Now, I am not all anti-sharing. Some sharing is good. Know a friend looking for a particular pet? A quick share to their wall might help out! But too much sharing just simply means people will tune out, as is the case here.


Rant over. My simple solution is stop following this person on Facebook. If they aren’t saying anything that is useful to you, stop looking!

Hairy Dogfathers
Hairy Dogfathers

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