Which of your Facebook friends are you most likely to 'unfriend'? Science weighs in

A study from the University of Colorado published this year said that the most common type of 'friend' to be unfriended on Facebook are acquaintances from high school, a report from Phys.org said.

 

Because as it turns out, your political and religious beliefs are just too different. Also, some of them are apparently completely uninteresting.

 

The study was based on a survey of 1,077 people conducted—ironically enough—on Twitter.

 

It found that the top five kinds of people the respondents unfriended were:

 

1. High School friends

2. Other

3. Friend of a friend

4. Work friends

5. Common interest friend

 

"The most common reason for unfriending someone from high school is that the person posted polarizing comments often about religion or politics. The other big reason for unfriending was frequent, uninteresting posts," Christopher Sibona, a doctoral student in the Computer Science and Information Systems program at the CU Denver Business School told Phys.org.

 

"Your high school friends may not know your current political or religious beliefs and you may be quite vocal about them. And one thing about social media is that online disagreements escalate much more quickly," he added.

 

Co-workers, on the other hand, are often unfriended due to their actions in the real world rather than anything they post on Facebook.

 

A second study of the same survey looked at the emotional impact of being unfriended. The most common responses were:

I was surprised

It bothered me

I was amused

I felt sad

 

Four factors predicted how someone's emotional response to being unfriended, the study found out:

If (1) the unfriended person (or 'unfriend-ee') was once close to the one who unfriended them (the 'unfriend-er'), and (2) the former closely monitored his or her own friend's list, then the he or she would most likely be more negatively affected.

 

However, she would be less negatively affected if (3) the difficulties of both unfriend-er and unfriend-ee were discussed before the unfriending happened, and (4) if the unfriend-ee talked about it with others after the unfriending.

 

Surprisingly, the research also showed that unfriending happens more often to people who were once close than to those who are mere acquaintances.

 

"Despite the preponderance of weak ties throughout online social networks, these findings help to place unfriending within the greater context of relationship dissolution," the study said.

 

Sibona said that the 'one size fits all' method of ending digital relationships is unique but with real world consequences that warrant additional research.

 

"If you have a lot of friends on Facebook, the cost of maintaining those friendships is pretty low," he said. "So if you make a conscious effort to push a button to get rid of someone, that can hurt."

 

The two studies were published in the 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. — Kim Luces/TJD, GMA News