With social media being such a big part of our lives these days, managing your friends lists can feel like a delicate balancing act. You want to connect with new people but also curate your online relationships. So what happens when you send someone a friend request on a platform like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn and they don’t accept it? Is there any way to know if they rejected your request or just haven’t seen it yet? Here’s what you need to know about cancelled friend requests on social media.
On Facebook
Facebook does not directly notify you if someone rejects your friend request. This means you’ll never get an alert saying “John Doe declined your friend request.” However, there are a few clues you can look for to determine if someone cancelled your request:
- Check your sent friend requests – If you don’t see the request pending anymore, chances are the person rejected it.
- See if you can re-send a request – If Facebook allows you to send another friend request to the same person, it’s likely because they previously ignored or cancelled your first request.
- Monitor their friends list – If you notice the person’s friend count has not gone up despite enough time passing since you sent the request, they probably dismissed your request.
So while Facebook provides no outright notice, examining your sent requests and the recipient’s profile can give you a good idea of whether your request was rejected.
Unable to Re-send Request
One exception is if you are unable to re-send a friend request to someone who never accepted. In this case, the recipient may have proactively blocked you, which prevents any new friend requests from going through.
On Instagram
Just like Facebook, Instagram does not directly alert you if someone rejects or ignores your follow request. You’ll have to do a bit of sleuthing to figure it out.
Signs your Instagram follow request may have been cancelled include:
- Loss of the “Requested” status – If “Requested” disappears from their profile, your request was likely rejected.
- Re-sending the request works – If Instagram allows you to request to follow the person again, your first request was probably dismissed.
- No follower increase – If after a few days the person’s follower count does not go up, chances are they cancelled your request.
Essentially you need to watch for the request indicator disappearing along with other signs of a rejected request. Instagram won’t tell you directly if someone said no thanks to following you back.
On LinkedIn
LinkedIn operates a bit differently than other social networks when it comes to friend requests. Here are the key things to know about potential cancelled connection requests on LinkedIn:
- You’ll receive notification of a rejection – If someone formally rejects your connection request, you’ll get an alert from LinkedIn saying your request was declined.
- Ignore = Cancellation – However, if a connection request is simply ignored for two weeks, LinkedIn automatically cancels it. So radio silence on a request typically means it was passively rejected.
- Re-sending works – Even if someone has not replied to your request, you can send another one every 90 days. If the new request goes through, your previous one was likely ignored.
In summary, LinkedIn will notify you directly only if an individual proactively clicks to reject your request. But you can assume it’s been cancelled if weeks go by with no response.
On Twitter
Twitter has one of the simplest protocols around friend requests and cancellations. Here’s how it works:
- No notification if ignored – Twitter will not notify you if someone rejects your follow request. It simply disappears as if never sent.
- Re-sending not possible – You cannot re-send a follow request to someone who already cancelled or ignored one from you.
- Follower count doesn’t change – If someone’s follower number does not increase after you sent a request, it was likely dismissed.
So on Twitter, there is no way to know for sure if your follow request was cancelled or not. You’ll have to make an educated guess based on whether you can still see the pending request and if their follower count changed. Request again is not an option if cancelled.
Common Questions
Does a cancelled friend request notification stay in your inbox?
No, a cancelled friend request will not remain in your inbox or notifications tab on most social networks. Once someone rejects your request, any record of that request having been sent vanishes from your account.
Can you see who cancelled your friend request?
You cannot see exactly who dismissed or ignored your friend request on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The networks do not reveal that information to protect privacy. You’ll only be able to tell that a request was likely cancelled based on the indirect signals mentioned earlier.
What happens when you delete a cancelled friend request?
If you notice your sent friend request disappear, which may indicate the recipient rejected it, nothing additional happens if you choose to delete the request from your side. On most social networks, a cancelled request is already automatically deleted from your sent requests list and inbox. Manually deleting it again does not impact anything.
Can a cancelled request be recovered?
Once someone formally ignores or dismisses your friend request on social media, that specific request is gone for good. You cannot recover or undo a cancelled request. Your only option is to send a new friend request if the platform allows it, such as re-requesting to follow someone on Instagram.
Best Practices
While you cannot always definitively know if your friend requests get rejected, here are some tips on how to handle cancelled requests:
- Don’t take it personally – There are many reasons someone may not accept a request that have nothing to do with you. Don’t read too much into a perceived rejection.
- Send reminders – For pending requests that may have just been overlooked, politely send a reminder message after a week or two.
- Wait before re-sending – Give it a few weeks or months before attempting to connect again after a suspected cancellation.
- Clean up your contacts – Periodically review your contacts and unfollow anyone you no longer interact with to keep your friends lists meaningful.
With the right expectations and tactics, you can manage cancelled friend requests gracefully on social networks. The key is not to stress about every request that goes ignored or rejected.
When to Move On
If someone continues to ignore your repeated friend requests across multiple platforms or over an extended period of time, they likely wish not to connect for whatever reason. At a certain point, you may need to move on from the outreach attempts.
Signs it’s time to stop sending friend requests include:
- Multiple requests cancelled over months/years
- Getting blocked on social platforms by the person
- Repeated one-sided attempts to interact are ignored
- You no longer have a real reason to connect
As frustrating as unanswered friend requests can feel, persistently badgering someone to accept will only make the situation worse. Know when to cut your losses for your own dignity.
Summary
Checking your sent requests, monitoring follower counts, and re-sending cancelled requests where possible are the main ways to detect rejected friend requests on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. While you won’t get an outright notice in most cases, you can make an educated guess as to whether your request was ignored based on the circumstantial evidence.
Don’t take cancelled friend requests personally and focus on connecting with people who reciprocate interest in building a relationship. With the right mindset and etiquette, you can manage all aspects of friending and following on social media gracefully.
| Platform | Request Rejected Notification? | Re-send Request After Cancellation? |
|---|---|---|
| No | Yes | |
| No | Yes | |
| Yes | After 90 days | |
| No | No |
This table summarizes whether each platform notifies you of cancelled requests and allows re-sending requests that have been ignored or rejected.
Conclusion
Managing friend and follower requests on social media platforms can require some guesswork when it comes to identifying cancelled or rejected requests. But following polite online etiquette and not taking perceived rejections too personally can help make the process of connecting online less stressful. Just focus on building relationships with people who reciprocate interest in keeping in touch.