In the ‘demanding’ social network stakes, is Facebook to Twitter what J-Lo is to Jennifer Garner? Are some social media sites just higher-maintenance than others,  requiring more love, care and attention, lest they start misbehaving or taking liberties?

Facebook was on my naughty list for a week because it wasn’t working correctly on the iPhone, booting me off in the middle of making (what was surely) a hilarious post. Then a kind and more clued-up friend suggested I download the Facebook for iPhone software update to get the fix, which was right there, ready and waiting  in the Apps Store. Oops.

More recently, I’ve started to receive SPAM-like emails from LinkedIn users pitching me various services after spotting my profile. The senders of these emails are unknown to me and our connection is tenuous (for example, belonging to a common LinkedIn group). Where are the ‘dislike’ and ‘disable’ buttons for this? LinkedIn as a lead-gen tool, I get: but the (total) irrelevance of the content sent to me, I don’t get.

And lastly, check out the comments section of this Guardian piece, where some readers became very irritated  at not being able to find the article ‘recommend’ feature.

Our relationship with social media and technologies, it seems, can be a metaphor for real-life relationships: burning hot one minute, running cold the next. And mostly waiting for experience-enhancing upgrades.

With teenage children in mind, I wrote a blog piece recently about embarrassing pictures on Facebook and questioned whether this affects your personal PR, reputation and even job prospects. Thankfully, on this subject at least, the European Commission is seeing sense by suggesting that internet users have the right to delete embarrassing content from social networking sites.

Remember, remember: you might be able to scrub your own back-doorstep until it sparkles and shines, but don’t forget all those friends, and friends of friends, who have posted albums and tagged you. It’s still best to be mindful of the potential damage of being photographed under the table (or on the table) after six tequilas. And whilst some employers might turn a blind eye to youthful exuberance, not all will.

This is a proposed change; not one that is enforced yet.

This story is brilliantly summed up byBruno Waterfield of the Daily Telegraph and the full formal EU release is here.

I sincerely hope this legislation goes through.