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I found some topic in the internet that I thought would be interesting to some friend; I know him well but he is not a close friend, we didn't hang out at all, we just met each other a few days at some Institute. That friend didn't ask me for anything. I just loved to share that link with him through Facebook messenger. He replied with "Thank you".

What should I reply?

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    What goal are you trying to accomplish here? Are you trying to start a conversation with your friend about this interesting article? Are you trying to figure out whether your friend enjoyed the article?
    – user288
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 4:21
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    @Hamlet I just want to be interactive and not silent to his thanks.
    – Saleh Feek
    Commented Sep 14, 2017 at 18:11

7 Answers 7

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I think you're overthinking this a little, they're thankful for what you sent them. A simple "you're welcome" would suffice, but if you want to carry the conversation on, you could say something like:

You're very welcome, I thought you might like it when I saw it and had to share it.

This can trigger further conversation about the topic you shared and it also gets the point across that you thought of them when you saw the information on the internet. I'd be happy to hear that, as would others.

As @Vangaurd3000 rightly points out in the comments, in the future when you're sending a link to someone. You might want to add

I thought you might like it when I saw it and had to share it.

alongside it, instead of afterward.

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    Good answer, though I would add that, in the future, a link should probably be preambled with the "I thought you might like it when I saw it and had to share it" (or something like it) rather than just sending someone a link out of the blue with no explanation.
    – Vanguard3000
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 13:42
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    Try adding some text that gives the person some indication the link really came from you, and not a virus. Add his name, the subject of the link, or something only you two know like a nickname or a past event you two shared... like "Hey Mike, I know you're into robotisation with your big AI project last year and this article made a few interesting points I wanted to share with ya"
    – Konerak
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 6:09
  • +1 to this instead of the other. Adding a "You're welcome is just proper manners, and "doing nothing" as many comments and answers suggest can in many cases be seen as rude.
    – Anoplexian
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 15:30
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Nothing

You did something that you thought he might like. He thanked you for it (either because he liked it or because he just wanted to be polite).

Unless you want to initiate chit-chat for some reason, there is no need to react in any way.

If your friend wanted to discuss the link you sent him, he would have sent a more detailed response. ("Thank you. That last part about frobnicating foos was very interesting, what do you think about it?")

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In addition to the other great answers, I feel like I should bring up a relatively new phenomena on the internet. For the purposes of an easy-to-understand explanation, I'll use a frequent example between my friends and I.

Me: Here's a link to an adorable dog gif!

Them: Thank you

In this situation, 'Thank you' is intentionally written as overly-serious. This creates a humorous contrast between the light-hearted, off-handed nature of the link provided and the very professional response. The irony is appreciated by both parties, frequently causing both of us to chuckle.

This type of scene is rising in frequency on certain social media websites, so if this new friend of yours frequents things like Reddit or Imgur, it's possible this is what he's doing.

I'm unsure as to the origin of this, but it's possible that it shares some similarities with the Me Too Thanks Meme. Both of the memes derive at least part of their humor from the unexpected nature of the reply. For example:

Two bees are talking to each other

theres 20 letters in the alphabet right

thats totally wrong there are 26

o yea I guess I forgot the letters; u r a b

thats funny b/c i am a bee

me too thanks

me too thanks

This example is similar to an abrupt 'Thank you' due to the sudden, unexpected nature of the response.

Without further context or understanding of the personality-type of this individual, I cannot confirm nor deny whether this interaction matches my example.

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    Punctuation makes a difference too, in cases like this. "Thank you!" (with an exclamation mark) implies jovial gratitude, "Thank you" (no punctuation) is simply acknowledging receipt of the message, and "Thank you." (with a period) can come across as insincere and disappointed.
    – Mage Xy
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 16:17
  • Can you explain further what these interactions entail, perhaps with a more complete example of this dialogue with some actual evidence that humor was conveyed?
    – Darren
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 19:47
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    @Darren I could provide additional examples, if you think that would be useful. I'm not sure if I know how to provide a more complete example of the dialogue or evidence of humor. I'll see if I can find an analogue with a source, though.
    – Onyz
    Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 12:40
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An interesting situation which can/may have happened with many of people. I think you can deal this situation by:

  1. As you have pointed out that he isn't your close friend, so Find things of common interest for everyone.
  2. I think you can reply him something like: 'Nice to know you liked the link. (Add common interesting things you found in above point) I found them pretty interesting.

Alone Nice to know you liked the link can work pretty well as its neither lie nor letting him know it was accidental

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For me it sometimes happens that if I'm too tired or I like to call it "ran out of social skills for the day", then an answer like that is not meant to be unfriendly, only it didn't prompt an emotional response. Yet the person feels that he/she should respond at least something.

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It's entirely possible that the friend didn't appreciate the link (or has received it before (or has already had 300 spam links sent to him this week) ) and his "thank you" is actually just a polite way of ending the conversation. Such a vague answer doesn't really give you much to go on, so personally I'd just accept it as what it is (a vague expression of gratitude) and move on.

How to get friends/partner to stop texting me pointless pictures/videos

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I think this could be a 'Joey's Videotape' type of scenario. You think that you should get some other response due to the content or context of the link. You feel it's a bit strange that you didn't. You could reply "No problem, what did you think?" or similar. Then gauge the response.

There are great answers here already for future situations, so I won't add any.

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