Another strategy I’m noticing to avoid Friending angst/rudeness – you receive a request from someone you don’t want to Friend, but don’t want to offend. So, you add them with the intention to delete them after a short while, that way they see they’ve been accepted and everyone is happy. Then, after a few weeks when they won’t notice (since you aren’t really close anyway), you defriend them. They feel validated that you’re friends or you trust them or whatever they’re looking for, but you don’t have to share your ongoing life with them.

This tactic suggests the act of Friending is sometimes more important than the ongoing lifestream access.

I think this may be a more recent thing too (it’s only in the past 6 months or I’ve started hearing a few people say they’ve done it)

Anyone use this as a strategy? How frequently? What type of person do you do it with? How long have you been doing it?