Seven social media fears that haunt us every day

Ever mistakenly clicked “like” on that picture of your crush’s sister’s wedding after a round of intense Facebook stalking? Then you’ll know the pain of making a fatal social media mistake.

Social media might be advertised as a way for us to openly connect with the world around us, but we all know it’s more about showing off a heavily edited and filtered version of our lives. A brunch picture here, a “night out” status there… perfect! That’s all well and good until you blow your cover by making one of these epic fails….

1. The drunken Facebook message
This also applies to WhatsApp and even good old fashioned texting. A drunken message – be it to your crush, your boss or your ex – will cause levels of fear that you never even knew you were capable of experiencing. Hopefully it’s just a jumble of letters rather than a full-on booty call. If it’s the latter, all you can do is cringe – especially if there was no reply!

2. The accidental follow
Giant clumsy fingers, why do you forsake us so?! It’s so easy to accidentally press “follow” or “Add Friend” and yet it only ever seems to happen when it’s someone you really, really don’t want any contact with. You have two choices – remove the request and hope they’ll think the email notification was a glitch (ha!) or just accept the damage and move on.

3. The shameful Netflix “watched” list on Facebook
This is totally grand if you’ve been watching Louis Theroux documentaries, but your "watched" list is more likely to accidentally sync to your Facebook profile when you’ve just spent four hours watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Cringe. The kind-hearted folks at Netflix are apparently testing out a new “privacy mode” to allow you to watch your favourite shows incognito. Bring on the guilt-free Toddlers and Tiaras marathons!

4. The moment when you find that guy you fancy on Tinder
This brings about all levels of stress. Is he showing up because he’s already seen you and swiped to let you know he's game? Or has he not seen you yet? WHICH ONE? In this situation, not much can be lost by swiping right – if he doesn’t return the favour, it’s his loss. On the other hand, if he does…

5. The autocorrect carnage
It all happened so fast. One moment you were crafting a hilarious tweet, sure to earn you hundreds of wry laughs and new followers, the next you’ve posted it… only to realise that your phone has very kindly autocorrected a key word. No… that WASN’T meant to say “erect”. Delete or post a bashful “oh, silly autocorrect” tweet? The choice is a difficult one!

6. The “Seen” dilemma
Facebook’s “seen” feature on Messenger can be really handy when you’re waiting to hear back from a friend. But when someone asks you a question you rmost definitely don’t want to answer right now, it can be your worst enemy. It can also cause undue levels of stress when you’re waiting on a reply from a crush. Oh, he saw the message five hours ago? Great. GREAT.

7. The not-so-sneaky LinkedIn profile view
Unlike every other social network, LinkedIn lets you see who has viewed your profile over the last few days. This also means that your estranged primary school best pal can see if you’ve been nosing around her profile too. Oops.