Used to be you unloaded a friend by gradually not hanging with them. They got the message.
Now, you unfriend on Facebook � BAM, in an instant they can�t access you wall, embarrassing
picture or inane posts. You showed them! I�m B.C. with top 5 reasons people �unfriend� on FB.
This list is drawn largely from research done by UC Denver doctoral Student Chris Sibona who
surveyed 1,500 FB users in 2010 to find out why they do the dirt of the 21st century.
#5 Nothing you do on Facebook at all. Sibona found that 57% of unfriendings happen because
of something that happens in the real world. How quaint. Only 27% are due to online behavior.
Which leaves 16% who unfriend others because of, what, something imagined � or dreamed?
Probably just as well.
#4 I�m going toss out a jump ball: #4 is because of FB pullback. As we use FB more and more I
hear from a lot of people who are using it less. It�s the intersection of the novelty wearing thin
times people realizing they are exposing .. and then they whittle down their friends list to, well,
actual friends.
#3 reason is racist or vulgar posts. Kind of a no brainer. We�ve all got those morons in our
crowd who go there � and there you are with their mortifying utterances on your wall where all
your enlightened friends can see you also hang out the losers, too.
#2 is posts about politics and religion. Social networks don�t change one of the great truths of
human relations: Lay off politics, God and gun control if you want the party to stay polite.
�Unfriend� is a real word, by the way . In fact it was Word of the Year in 2009 as named buy the
new OAD, which said �it has both currency and potential longevity.� And its just a handy word.
#1 is persistent inane posts! No kidding. Farmville updates alone are enough to inspire
genocide.
Please, people, post something you think the rest of us care about, not that you found another
golden egg.
For more Top 5s like this head on over to Top5.cnet.com. I am Brian Cooley, thanks for
watching.
