Academics from the University of Colorado have found that constant posting of trivial events (we all know the new mum that assumes everyone finds little Jaden’s bowel movements as fascinating as her) and strong views on contentious issues like religion and politics, are the two main reasons people unfriend others on Facebook.
They also found that the person who originally requested the friendship is more likely to be the victim of an unfriending, and this is due to the fact that they generally have less social capital and value the bond less than the initial requester. And unlike real life, where friendships usually end due to an argument or incident, or organically as individuals drift apart in interests or lifestyle, the dissolution of Facebook friendhsips is abrupt, with one party taking the acitve step of removing another from their firend group with no discussion or explanation.
One of the academics reasons that Facebook friendship is defined differently to real life friendship, but I wonder if that is the case. We’ve all been sent friend requests from time to time from someone we went to primary school with or met in a bar through a mutual friend who turns out to have completely divergent views to us and hence gets the digital boot. But this person wasn’t a real friend in the first place and will most likely never run into you again in the real world.
At least I certainly hope I don’t run into Oh-What-Did-You-Go-To-Jail-For? Jimmy from Beachside Primary, anyway….
