Have you been defriended?

[Jenn! 918]

Frequent Facebook users more likely to lose their friends

People who devote the most hours to Facebook are more likely to be "defriended" on the social networking site.

Published: 7:30AM BST 07 Oct 2010

Researchers found that friends' frequent posts about nothing in particular were most likely to lead to a severing of online ties. This was followed by comments about polarising topics like religion and politics.

Computer scientist Christopher Sibona, who surveyed more than 1,500 Facebook users on Twitter to get to the bottom of the new phenomenon of 'unfriending', said: "The 100th post about your favourite band is no longer interesting."

He added: "They say not to talk about religion or politics at office parties and the same thing is true online."

Inappropriate posts such as crude or racist comments were the third reason for the severing of relationships.

The study also showed 57 percent of those surveyed unfriended for online reasons while 26.9 percent did so for offline behaviour.

Sibona, a PhD student at Colorado University, observed a sort of online hierarchy of dominant and subordinate relationships.

For example, those making friend requests stood a much higher chance of being abruptly unfriended. At the same time those doing the unfriending seemed to hold the upper hand in the relationship.

With over 500 million users worldwide Facebook has become a global phenomenon, a vast cyber neighbourhood where friends meet to share photos, news and gossip.

It is when those relationships turn sour that 'unfriending' occurs - something those unfamiliar with social networking sites may not have heard of but that was chosen by the New Oxford American Dictionary as its 2009 Word of the Year.

The dictionary defines the verb 'unfriend' as 'To remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking site such as Facebook. As in "I decided to unfriend my roommate after we had a fight".'

Sibona said making friends on Facebook is a delicate dance with its own rules or "nettiquette" - far different from face-to-face interaction.

"There is a lot more nuance in the offline friendship world. You don't have to go up to someone and ask them to be your friend. That's not the case online. It can be awkward," he said.

Facebook, founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, is so ingrained in popular culture that in 2009 unfriend was named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, which defined it as "to remove someone as a 'friend' from a social networking site such as Facebook."

Sibona said: "Researchers spend a lot of time examining how people form friendships online but little is known on how those relationships end.

"Perhaps this will help us develop a theory of the entire cycle of friending and unfriending."

Given the public nature of Facebook profiles Sibona urged users to exercise caution in their posting behaviours citing a 2010 survey showing that 54.6 percent of recruiters used the site to find or investigate job candidates.

He said: "The same kinds of posts that could get you unfriended might also be viewed negatively by recruiters," he said.

Steven Walczak, associate professor of Information Systems at the University of Colorado Denver Business School and Sibona's advisor, said he hopes the study will spark further research.

"With businesses embracing Facebook as a marketing and customer-relationship tool, this will hopefully create new research that further examines how social networks enhance business decision making and outcomes," he said.

http://www.telegraph...ir-friends.html

[kofilovesama 4]

the kid is FABULOUS AT THE END. . . lol I WANT ONE SOOOOOOON

[patient2010 93]

nice article

[SMR 368]

In my experience, friend requests have never really been an awkward situation. I friend people that I know in real life to keep in touch with them. I accept friend requests from people provided that I have met them in real life. It's not a matter of, is this person my friend or not.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I think Facebook's days are numbered as people are gradually realizing that online social networks are all that they are cracked up to be.

[^_^ 5,021]

I think Facebook's days are numbered as people are gradually realizing that online social networks are all that they are cracked up to be.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

ooops....please don't defriend me.

[^_^ 5,021]

ooops....please don't defriend me.

I will try not to, you commie scumbag.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I will try not to, you commie scumbag.

I'll plant a sunflower in your honor.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

That's why I'm not on Facebook. It would be devastating to be defriended. And to think that the internet gave us yet another new word, defriend, defriended, defriendging. There, I conjugated it. I'm probably the first in history to do that. Will you guys be my friend?

[^_^ 5,021]

That's why I'm not on Facebook. It would be devastating to be defriended. And to think that the internet gave us yet another new word, defriend, defriended, defriendging. There, I conjugated it. I'm probably the first in history to do that. Will you guys be my friend?

Sure, but then I will have to defriend you eventually.

[fozzie 41]

Dilema: When you have defriended someone and you then receive a friend request from them to be refriended, what do you do? Click Ignore, accept, or leave it in the rrequest area for a month until they forget about it?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Another new word, refriend. Facebook is going to cause Webster to revise the dictionary.

[SMR 368]

Dilema: When you have defriended someone and you then receive a friend request from them to be refriended, what do you do? Click Ignore, accept, or leave it in the rrequest area for a month until they forget about it?

I'm pretty sure that from their perspective there is no difference between you pressing ignore, or actually ignoring it by leaving it in your queue forever.

[fozzie 41]

I think when they look at your profile (limited) if they see the add as a friend button then you ignored it, however if it is pending friend request (or something similar) it means you have not ignored it..officially. I do not use FB often so they may just think I have not logged in or seen it for a while.