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Question from Heidi: There’s something that’s really been bugging me Rick, and I hope you can set my mind at ease.
Every now and then I’ll “Like” a post on Facebook, then almost immediately change my mind and “Unlike” it.
When I do that will the person who made the post know that I did it?
I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and I’m afraid this might!
Rick’s answer: Heidi, the short answer to your question is “maybe”.
Just as soon as you click “Like”, a notification is sent to the poster letting him/her know that you “Liked” the post.
That notification will immediately be added to the top of their “Notifications” list.
If they already had Facebook open when you “Liked” the post, they’ll see the notification that you “liked” it when they view their notifications even if you have already “unliked” it before they click to view their notifications.
However, if they refresh the page before viewing their notifications that will remove the notification for the “unliked” post from the list and they’ll never see it.
Again, all of the above assumes the person had Facebook open when you “liked” the post.
If they didn’t have Facebook open when you liked the post, they won’t receive the notification at all if you unlike it before they open Facebook on their device.
I know this sounds pretty confusing, but that’s just because I couldn’t think of a less clumsy way to explain it. Sorry about that!
Bottom line: If the person whose post you “liked” and then “unliked” has been using Facebook for a while they’ll know what happened because we all “Like” and then “Unlike” posts on occasion.
I don’t think such an action would be terribly upsetting to most people, but I guess it really depends on the friend in question and the topic of the post.
I hope this helps Heidi. Good luck!
Bonus tip: This post explains why setting everything on Facebook to ‘Friends’ won’t fully protect your personal information.
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