Rejection is part of life. We've all been there in one form or another. That doesn't mean that we should excuse people being assholes, but we can't insulate ourselves from reality either. Look at some of the most successful people in the world – many of them were rejected earlier in life and/or their careers and that rejection provided the driving force to succeed. FDR comes to mind. There are countless others.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but social media rejection will never hurt me.

Thanks for the discussion.

When it comes to specific rejection, the answer changes. I don't care if [random person] follows me back. But we all have a little list of people in our monkeysphere that are really important to us. And if THEY reject us, it stings. Is that because we're thin skinned? I don't think so. I think it's because we're human, and certain connections are important to us.

I don' t think I want to live in a world where we're able to totally accept rejection. Handling these things with a total lack of emotion indicates that social media isn't nearly as personal or authentic as we're trying to make it out to be.

Rejection is part of life. We've all been there in one form or another. That doesn't mean that we should excuse people being assholes, but we can't insulate ourselves from reality either. Look at some of the most successful people in the world – many of them were rejected earlier in life and/or their careers and that rejection provided the driving force to succeed. FDR comes to mind. There are countless others.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but social media rejection will never hurt me.

Thanks for the discussion.

When it comes to specific rejection, the answer changes. I don't care if [random person] follows me back. But we all have a little list of people in our monkeysphere that are really important to us. And if THEY reject us, it stings. Is that because we're thin skinned? I don't think so. I think it's because we're human, and certain connections are important to us.

I don' t think I want to live in a world where we're able to totally accept rejection. Handling these things with a total lack of emotion indicates that social media isn't nearly as personal or authentic as we're trying to make it out to be.

I only follow people on twitter that I feel will share information that will be relevant to me. No one's tweets are always relevant, but I just look for people with related interests and/or industries. If you do not appear to be relevant to me, then I do not follow you. It is not because you are a lesser, unimportant human being. It is because I do not care about arts, crafts, and being a mom.

If you are offended or hurt by such a scenario, I would suggest the problem is your own mental well-being. People need to have a little more belief in themselves, and not rely on a social network friend lists to tell them they are valuable in life.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but I think people need to be stronger, and have more self-confidence. Rejection is a part of life. No one is great at everything. You will get rejected for jobs, you will get rejected by friends, you will get rejected by some random person you met at an event and thought would become a friend. If you develop your own perspective of self-worth and value out of your rejections you will live a depressing life, dictated by the negative actions of others.

You're better than that. I know you are. Even if I don't follow you on twitter.

While we all may not write the way that we speak per se, we all do speak in a certain way whether written or spoken. Yes face to face there is body language and some feel more at ease when they write as opposed to being in front of people but we all have certain things that we say that is consistent. No avoiding it.

Rejection is tough whether it be not being friended or tweeting someone and they ignore you as you have not built your credibility with them. Everyone wants to feel wanted and important and with social media valuable. Some get discouraged, others work hard to become a part of the “cool kids”. It is what is within and how you handle it. Earn the respect to be embraced and engaged. Being ignored is tough but also a testament to how hard you are willing to work and learn about being accepted.

How do I handle rejection? I roll my eyes, shrug my shoulders and then think how bad to I want to be in this person's circle and if it is something where I learn and where I can be valuable, you better believe I will work hard to get in. Listen more and then react.

Good stuff!

Suz

People shouldn't get too worked up about un-friending. I often think “Why wouldn't this person want to accept my friendship? I'm a pretty nice guy.” Instead of speculating on the myriad of reasons why you have been rejected or deleted, I like to see it as an opportunity to further authenticate my network. I purged my Facebook account recently and saw a few “friend requests pending” I wished they had accepted but c'est la vie. I'm much happier now because my “friend” list is more authentic and stronger because of it.

My talk: http://vimeo.com/2968916