Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites in existence. Many people use this site for both personal reasons and for business. It’s a great way for businesses to get their name out there, to build brand awareness and it’s one of the best ways to stay in touch with friends and family members.
You can locate old friends that you haven’t talked to in years or make new friends from all over the globe. You can leave messages, share photos and talk about everything from how your day is going to breaking news that caught your eye. Operations of Facebook all revolve around the friend’s list. When you add people to friends, they can see your wall and the content that you place there and you mutually see theirs.
So what happens if you notice you’re being unfriended on Facebook? There are some common reasons why people ditch their FB friends. Let’s take a look:
Not Communicating
Most people are on FB to connect. If you have not posted in a very long time and your account looks abandoned, people might unfriend you while they are doing a cleanup. If you’re active but you never talk to some of your friends, those people may disconnect from you. Facebook allows you to have up to 5,000 friends and honestly, who has the chance to stay up to date with 5,000 people? Not likely any of us… however, some people use Facebook as a sort of Rolodex in the sense that they add people so they connect with them when they need them but they may not speak with them regularly. It all depends on how you use the site. Just keep in mind, if you’re not talking with someone, they might remove you from their list.
Posting Offensive Comments
8719395_lJust like in real life, if you make someone mad, they might just stop being your friend. The difference with Facebook is that there is so much content being shared so quickly, it’s easier to offend someone. Also, many people will post things online or share an image or post they would not actually say in person. Maybe you make a Pope joke not realizing it may offend your Catholic friends. Or maybe you share a funny picture about kids but a friend with kids doesn’t find it so funny. This is a quick way to get yourself de-friended.
Most Facebook users are pretty lenient about what they allow but the most controversial posts- those on politics and religion- are sure to rub some people the wrong way. I’m not saying don’t post about these things if they are important to you but understand that it may carry some consequences if you do.
Aggressive Selling
There is a place for FB selling and a place for just personal Facebooking. If you blur those lines, you’re going to lose friends. There are few things more annoying to me on Facebook than connecting with a new friend who seems nice and then getting a message about how they can help me “Make millions working from home” or how I can “lose inches with their new body wrap”. Don’t spam your friends with aggressive advertising.
While businesses do use this networking site successfully, you have to know how to use it correctly to get good responses and not try to push your products on your friends. If you are trying to sell something on your personal account, you may lose a lot of friends very quickly.
Too Much Politics
443789_frustratedYou have most likely heard many times that there is a time and place for everything. The same is true for interacting with others on Facebook and as we said earlier, politics is controversial. Some people can tolerate respectful political chat where others don’t want to hear it at all. Some people like to debate and communicate and others get stressed by it. If you’re the type of person who loves to rant about politics, just understand that some Facebook users won’t like it and they might unfriend you.
Having Too Many Friends
9156684_mWhile many people like to talk about all the friends they have on Facebook and some may even consider it a competition, it is possible to have too many friends. If you have such a large pool of FB friends you cannot communicate with them all, you might see some friends drop from neglect. If they feel like you are too busy to actually chat with them, they might just cut you loose or choose to only follow your public updates.
Being Negative and Depressing
Nobody likes a constant downer. If you are always posting depressing comments about feeling bad, your breakup with your loved one or how bad life is treating you, then you are bringing others down and there is a good chance you’ll be unfriended. Sure, true friends will stick by you when you have a problem in your life but a constant drama queen is going to annoy people and they just might have to let you go for their own sanity.
Have you ever unfriended someone on Facebook for any of the reasons above or some other reason? Have you ever been unfriended and not know why?
Do you have questions about social media? Stop by on Facebook and post your questions!