How do I stop Gmail from getting social media emails?

If you’re tired of all the notifications from social media sites cluttering up your Gmail inbox, there are a few ways to stop Gmail from receiving these emails so your inbox stays clean and organized.

Use Gmail’s filtering tools

One of the easiest ways to stop social media emails from reaching your Gmail inbox is to use Gmail’s built-in filtering tools. Here’s how:

1. Open Gmail and click the gear icon in the top right corner to open Settings.
2. Click on Filters and Blocked Addresses.
3. Under the Create a new filter tab, enter the email address or domain name you want to filter. For example:
   • [email protected]
   • @twitter.com
   • @linkedin.com
4. Click Create filter with this search.
5. Check the box next to Delete it to automatically delete the filtered emails.
6. Check the box next to Never send it to Spam to ensure filtered emails are deleted rather than sent to spam.
7. Click Create filter.

Now emails from those social media addresses will be automatically deleted rather than landing in your inbox. You can create multiple filters to target notifications from each social site.

Unsubscribe from email updates

Rather than filtering, you can stop social media emails at the source by unsubscribing from notifications. Here’s how for three major sites:

Facebook

1. Click the arrow in the top right corner and click Settings & Privacy.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Notifications on the left.
4. Scroll down and click on the Email tab.
5. Uncheck any email updates you want to unsubscribe from.

Twitter

1. Click your profile icon and choose Settings and privacy.
2. Click Notifications.
3. Scroll down and disable any email notifications you don’t want to receive.

LinkedIn

1. Click Me in the top right and choose Settings & Privacy.
2. Click Communications.
3. Click Email preferences.
4. Uncheck the box next to any emails you want to disable.

Going into your notifications settings and manually unsubscribing can stop emails at the source so they won’t clutter your Gmail anymore.

Use Gmail tabs

If you don’t want to delete social media emails but also don’t want them taking over your primary inbox, try using Gmail tabs to categorize them separately.

1. In your Gmail settings, click the Labs tab.
2. Enable Tabbed Inbox.
3. Refresh your Gmail page.
4. You should now see tabs across the top of your inbox.
5. When an email comes in from social media, drag it into the Social tab.

Now your primary inbox stays focused on personal emails while social notifications are safely tucked away in their own tab.

Create filters with apps

Installing email management apps like Unroll.me, Mixmax, or Boomerang for Gmail can help clean up your inbox by filtering out unwanted subscriptions and newsletter emails.

These apps let you:

• Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters with one click.
• Organize remaining subscriptions into a daily “rollup” email.
• Schedule emails to return to your inbox at designated times.
• Send unwanted emails directly to your trash folder.

Apps provide an easy way to manage batches of emails from marketing lists, freeing up your normal inbox for personal conversations.

Adjust social media email settings

Most social platforms allow you to configure notification settings and what type of emails you receive. It’s worth digging into the settings of your most-used sites to disable non-essential emails.

For example, on Facebook you can toggle email updates for:

• Friends’ posts
• Event reminders
• Group notifications
• Sales and promotions
• Security notices

Disable anything you don’t need clogging up your email. The same goes for Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other sites. Take control of what emails you get.

Use multiple inboxes

If you use Gmail for both work and personal email, having one clogged inbox doesn’t make much sense. Consider splitting them up.

You have two options:

1. Add another Gmail account just for work or personal email. Keep your primary for the other.
2. Use Gmail’s Multiple Inbox feature to organize one account with multiple tabs for work and personal.

Either way, separating work and personal email into designated inboxes can help you avoid inbox clutter.

Conclusion

Keeping your Gmail inbox free of unnecessary social media notifications comes down to a mix of filters, unsubscribes, tabs, apps, and inbox organization. Find the right combination for your email needs. With a few tweaks, you can take control and stop feeling overwhelmed by noisy updates.