Facebook Request Overload

I’m being inundated with Follow requests on Facebook. I seem to be always closing them and they keep popping up. Help!

Facebook has many customisations in settings, but they can be a bit of a maze to get through.
I understand your frustration with the constant barrage of "follow" requests. While you can't eliminate them completely, there are some ways to significantly reduce them.
Please try working your way through these suggestions and see how you go. If you don’t already know how, you can get to settings by clicking (mouse) or tapping (phone) you profile picture. You may also have access to more settings on you PC/laptop than on your phone. Settings has a search option which you can use to enter Following, Requests etc… to take you to the relevant sections.
 
1. Don’t click "Cancel" next to the suggestion.
 

• This might seem counterintuitive but clicking "cancel" on these requests might actually be telling Facebook's algorithm that you're interested in the type of content, even though you don't want to follow the specific page.

 
2. Mark Them as "Not Interested"
 

• Look for the three-dot menu (...), usually located on the top right corner of the suggested post. Clicking that should give you an option to mark the post as "Not Interested" or "See Less From This Page." This trains the algorithm to show you less content from similar pages.

 
 
You may be seeing these Follow requests on the back of Friend Requests
3. Adjust Privacy Settings:
 

• Who can send you friend requests? Change this from "Everyone" to "Friends of Friends" to limit requests from strangers.
• Who can see your friend list? Consider making your friend list private to prevent friend suggestions based on your connections.

 
4. Manage Following vs. Friends:
 

• Focus on content from your actual friends. Unfollow pages that primarily rely on "follow" requests to gain followers and prioritise content from people you already know.

 
5. Take Advantage of News Feed Preferences:
 

• Hide Posts: If you see a specific post you don't want to see, click the down arrow and choose "Hide post." You can also choose "Hide all posts from [Page name]" for a more permanent solution.
• Prioritise Who You See: Facebook allows you to prioritise posts from specific friends or pages. Find this option in your settings under "News Feed Preferences."

 
Hope this helps. Keep in mind that we are training the Facebook algorithms, so changing these settings might take some time to reflect in your feed. Be patient and consistent with these methods, and you should see a noticeable decrease in "follow" requests.

​​Best of luck!