Social Media: Should You Be Picky About Who You Accept as Friends?

Today's question comes directly from one of the discussions started on my Facebook page. I am nearing 2,000 connections via Facebook, which is where most of my marketing energy is vested. I have found two schools of thought. One being that you should keep your connections paired down to only true "connections" and the other being that you should cast a wide net because you never know who you're going to "catch". Let me address each point. The first theory will never work for me. I am not on social media for fun. I know some of my friends who use it strictly for personal reasons. When you use it for personal connections and to stay in touch with friends and family, it makes sense to keep it restricted. If you use social media, though, for your business or business in general, why would you restrict it? Here is why not restricting has paid off for me. I had no idea who were all of my connections. Turns out I'm connected to some serious movers and shakers. Two of them in particular have helped me move my book California Girl Chronicles forward in Hollywood, and they connected me with some major producers. I also routinely get contacted by authors who have been following my activities on social media and want to do business with me. If I restricted those folks, I wouldn't have that opportunity. Now if your concern about being connected to a lot of unknowns means you're also fielding nonsense on your Wall then de-friend them or just delete or ignore the nonsense. I do both. Many people assume I'm on social media to be social, and men mistakenly believe I'm on there to meet men, which I am not. I try to be courteous and friendly when they hit on me. Why? you ask. Because you never know when admirers will simply turn into fans of your products (in my case books). No harm in that, and in some ways that comes with what I'm doing anyway. My last lick here: Why build a social media page for networking and then restrict your connections? If you want to play on social media, play with your friends. If you use it for business then be savvy about it and no "restrictions apply."