Dear New Facebook Ex-friend, I thought I’d write you a quick note to explain what happened to our short-lived friendship. In a nutshell, it was all you. You chose to see me as an opportunity or a dollar sign rather than a person, and that violates my personal standards for how I wish to be treated.

When I accepted your friend request, I’d already looked at your profile and determined that you looked like someone I’d be interested in getting to know. But what happened next was rude, selfish, disrespectful and inconsiderate.

You, without a single interaction with me, yanked me into a group I didn’t show a single interest in or ask to join. Or, maybe you immediately invited me to like your business page without a single personal interaction with me.

Let me ask you this, if I met you in the store or at a coffee shop and we had simply said, “hello” to one another (I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and considering your friend request a friendly “hello”), would you immediately club me in the head and drag me to your business then expect me to even consider doing business with you?

I think not.

As a marketing professional, I’d like to remind you that the BEST marketing is about building relationships – Consensual relationships.

If you learned your marketing tactic from someone else, I hope you didn’t spend your hard earned money for it because they are, at best, ignorant but more likely, an idiot.

My best advice to you – take it, IT’S FREE! (Value: MILLIONS)

Always remember that just because screens separate us, I am still a person and should be treated with the same respect you’d show if we were standing face-to-face.

This is how our connection will be a strong one that is rewarding to both of us.

And this, my new ex-friend is what we all should be striving for. There are many ways paths intersect and we can’t see them all at first so it makes most sense to take an open-minded and open-hearted approach when dealing with others.