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Researcher Finds Top Reasons for Facebook Unfriending


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University of Colorado Denver's (UCD's) Christopher Sibona surveyed more than 1,500 Facebook users on Twitter and found that the number one reason for unfriending is frequent, unimportant posts. The second reason was posting about polarizing topics such as religion and politics. The third reason was inappropriate posts such as crude or racist comments. The study found that 57 percent of people surveyed unfriended for online reasons, while 26.9 percent did so for offline behavior.

Although some respondents reported being hurt at being unfriended, some were more amused. "There are a wide variety of reactions depending on who did the unfriending and why," Sibona says.

"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," says UCD professor Steven Walczak.

From University of Colorado Denver
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Abstracts Copyright © 2010 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA


 

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