Someone once asked me and a group of people this question: Do you follow or befriend mutual friends on social media? Most people replied yes while I replied no. Why did I say no? Do you remember this saying: Do not follow or befriend strangers on social media? Mutual friends are also strangers. Do you know that mutual friend? If you do not know that mutual friend, then that mutual friend is a stranger. Even though it says that he or she follows or befriends your family members or friends, you still shouldn’t follow or befriend them unless you have met them in person and they were nice to you.

Why do people follow or befriend mutual friends on social media even though they have not met each other? One reason is that they think that if they are friends with their family members or friends, then the person is nice and can be trusted. If you have not seen that mutual friend before, ignore the friend or following request. Not all of your family members or friends’ friends are nice. They can treat you differently than your family members or friends. They can sabotage your social media account or cyberbully you. They can also take personal information from your account and share it with a bad guy that is after you.

Another reason why people follow or befriend mutual friends is that people want more followers. More followers make people look popular and help people get more likes and views. Narcissism and greed make people forget about the warning of having strangers in your account. Having a lot of bad, suspicious, and distrustful followers or friends makes that long list of followers or friends not worth it.

Always keep one piece of advice in mind: Better be safe than sorry. Your friends and family members will not get mad at you if your reject their friends’ requests to follow or befriend you on social media. They do not need to know about the request as well.