Consequences of Social Media "Unfriending"

"Unfriending" - the act of deleting or not being a friend to someone any more on Facebook. 

Recent research discovered that unfriending a friend on Facebook may lead to real world consequences. 40% of people say that they would avoid someone who unfriended them. 50% said they would not avoid a person who unfriended them. Women are more likely to take unfriending more personally than men (not shocking there). The idea that social media is just for fun is an idea of the past. Social media has real world consequences. All of us, especially students in college, have heard many times to be careful what you put on Facebook because employers will check our profiles. We are told from day 1 in college that social media has consequences. Therefore, it does not come to a shock to me that when someone is unfriended on Facebook that it will effect them in real life. People who are unfriended can feel lonely as a result and maybe have reduced self esteem. Everyone wants to feel included so when someone rejects you on social media, it can hurt some people emotionally. The study discovered that there are important factors in whether or not a person will avoid someone who unfriended them. The factors include if the person discussed the event after it happened, f the emotional response to the unfriending was extremely negative, and if the person unfriended believed the action was due to offline behavior. Personally, it depends who the person is that unfriended me. If I haven't seen the person since freshman year in high school then I would not be offended. But if it was someone that I knew freshman year in college and see on campus every now and then, I wouldn't say I would be offended but it would spark curiosity. As in what made you look up my Facebook and deliberately delete me? I also think that deleting a person as a friend is kind of a hassle. Even if a friend is a really obnoxious poster and blows up my news feed, usually I just block them from my news feed so I don't have to see their annoying posts. I think its better to block them from certain parts of my Facebook than to completely delete them because then you can avoid the awkward run-in if they do realize you deleted them and might want an explanation. You also avoid the risk of needing something from them in the future. Facebook and social media have added a whole new realm of social habits that effect our lives outside the internet. Social Media is a part of our life now and it is only natural that it will effect us emotionally if we do not feel included. 

Source - http://mashable.com/2013/02/06/facebook-unfriend-consequences/