Study by Ph.D. Student Christopher Sibona on why people unfriend on Facebook. Presentation on his study at the Emerging Media Conference in Januray 2011. Download the presentation and/or watch videos from this and other presentations from EmMeCon at http://wappow.com/resources/videos

1. Unfriending on Facebook: Friend Request andOnline/Offline Behavior Analysis Christopher Sibona Advisor: Steven Walczak Information Systems The Business School University of Colorado Denver christopher.sibona@email.ucdenver.edu

3. Background

4. Initial Model

5. Instrument Design

6. Data Collection

7. Methodology

8. Results

9. Limitations

10. Implications

12. Background

13. Initial Model

14. Instrument Design

15. Data Collection

16. Methodology

17. Results

18. Limitations

19. Implications

21. Overview The research results show that the initiator of the friend request has more than their expected share of unfriends compared to those who receive the friend request. Survey respondents who said they unfriended for online reasons were more likely to agree that the person posted: Too frequently about unimportant topics Polarizing topics Inappropriate topics Everyday life topics compared to those who unfriended for offline reasons

23. Background

24. Initial Model

25. Instrument Design

26. Data Collection

27. Methodology

28. Results

29. Limitations

30. Implications

32. Online Social Networks The systems allow individuals to Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system boyd and Ellison, 2007

33. Friendship Formation and Dissolution Friendships created with those who share similar values (Lea and Duck, 1982; McPherson et al., 2001) People tend to create friendships with those who share a similar race and ethnicity followed by age, religion, education, occupation and gender and roughly in that order (McPherson et al., 2001).

34. Friendship ModelPaul Wright, 1969 Voluntary Interdependence Difficult-to-maintain Values of Friendship Stimulation Utility Ego

35. Voluntary Interdependence Degree to which the plans, activities, decisions of the acquaintances are contingent upon those of the other when both members are free to exercise a certain amount of choice Are the two “really friends” – mutual liking, respect, admiration Sample Question: If I hadn't heard from my friend for several days without knowing why, I would make it a point to contact him/her just for the sake of keeping in touch

36. Difficult-to-Maintain Not all “good” friendships run smoothly all the time. Misunderstandings, arguments, hard-to-resolve disagreements Time clarifying communications Being friends does not mean you agree on all values – but may need to avoid or neutralize disagreements Sample Question: I have to be very careful about what I say if I try to talk to my friend about topics that (s)he considers controversial or touchy

37. Values of Friendship Stimulation Value Interesting and imaginative, new ideas and activities SQ: can get me involved in interesting new activities that I probably wouldn't consider if it weren't for him/her Utility Value Cooperative and helpful SQ: If I were short of cash and needed money in a hurry, I could count on my friend to be willing to loan it to me. Ego Support Value Encouraging, supportive, non-threatening SQ: seems to really enjoy helping me out and doing favors for me

38. Friendship Process Four elements: P must desire to have O as a friend (attraction) P must initiate a move to establish a friendship with O. O must recognize P’s overture of friendship. O must reciprocate P’s offer of friendship Hallinan, 1979

40. If the friend request is accepted the two becomes friends on Facebook

41. It takes agreement to become friends on Facebook

42. Visible links are generated

44. Some friendships end in conflict but most friendships fade away

45. No permission needed to end a friendship in either the online or offline world

46. In the online world it is clear that someone made a conscious decision to unfriend the other.

47. Online unfriending does not necessarily mean offline unfriendingDuck, 1982; Sprecher and Fehr, 1998; Baxter, 1979.

48. Computer-Mediated Communication Impersonal Task oriented Interpersonal Increased expectation of future contact Hyperpersonal Level of affect exceeds that of face-to-face interactions Because information is not present recipients will fill in the missing details with idealized images Online dating Walther, 1996

49. Communication Technology’s Role Some are skeptical of new tech while others embrace it Shake out period where people will see pros and cons of new media and use where appropriate Example technology: telegraph, telephone, email, instant messaging, etc. Baym, 2010

51. 15% of all messages in Usenet forums are considered conduct correcting (Smith et al., 1997)

52. Facebook has formal rules

53. Facebook users can act as moderators to their wall – delete posts, limited profiles

55. What Americans do online Nielsen, August 2010: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/

57. Background

58. Initial Model/Question Development

59. Instrument Design

60. Data Collection

61. Methodology

62. Results

63. Limitations

64. Implications

66. Unfriending in the Media Boston Globe: To “Unfriend” or not to “Unfriend.” Peter Post, Dec 2009 Over commenting – had someone he barely knew comment on at least 80% of posts – comments are relevant and funny but disproportionate to actual relationship. Recommendation: do nothing – maybe the person is new to social networking, talk to the person

67. Unfriending in the Media Cosmopolitan: 10 Signs You Should Unfriend Someone on Facebook, Ashley Womble 1. She’s a firm believer that you can learn a lot about your health from your poop — and has the status updates to prove it. 2. You’ve only met him once but he “likes” everything you do on Facebook. Uh, stalk much? 3. You’re pretty sure she doesn't wear her dress and veil every day, but the girl can’t stop posting pics from her wedding two years ago. 4. He changed his relationship status to single instead of breaking up with you in person. 5. One word: Farmville. 6. She might not be on The Biggest Loser but for some reason she wants the entire world to know what she had for lunch, how many miles she just ran, and when she is sweating it out at the gym. 7. She has a photo album of your days as a teen beauty pageant queen, a scanner, and a passion for tagging. 8. EVERY WORD HE WRITES IS IN CAPS AND USUALLY FOLLOWED BY TONS OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!! 9. “So-and-So added you as a friend on Facebook” is the most you’ve heard from him in 10 years. Now that you’ve accepted the request you still haven’t connected. 10. You call her Mom.

68. Unfriending in the Media Mashable.com: 12 Great Tales of De-Friending, David Spark, 2008 Squashing opportunists trying to grow their network Getting laid off can be embarrassing, especially if you were bragging about your job Parents can be embarrassing exhibitionists Take a hint. I don’t want you in my show Guilted back into re-friending De-friending can regress mature women into a high school gossip mob I really love the Minnesota Vikings, and I don’t care if that ends our friendship Don’t leave or we’ll all de-friend you Don’t use my personal life as leverage in business negotiations I’m ok with your race and religion, but not your political beliefs Trying to de-friend your best friend’s ex-girlfriend Keep your online flirting to one woman at a time

69. Unfriending in the Media Gawker.com: The Eight Types of People to Unfollow on Twitter or Defriend on Facebook, Brian Moylan, May 2010 The Overuser The Oversharer The Proselytizer The In-Joker The Replyer The Meme Lover The Fisher The Nobody

70. Media Roundup People like lists: 10 signs you should unfriend someone on Facebook 12 great tales of de-friending 8 types of people to unfollow on Twitter or Defriend on Facebook 8 signs you should unfriend someone on Facebook 7 reasons to unfriend someone on Facebook Articles give people permission to others to unfriend

71. Question Development

72. Question Development

73. Initial Model Six groups of judges were asked to place 3x5 cards with the questions into between 4 and 10 groups Developed a distance matrix and ran multiple analyses on the data Dendogram analysis based on Ward’s Linkage Multi-dimensional scaling based on Euclidean distance 4 Categories emerge: Inflammatory topics, banal topics, changes in the relationship and disliked personality/behavior

76. Background

77. Initial Model

78. Instrument Design

79. Data Collection

80. Methodology

81. Results

82. Limitations

83. Implications

86. Background

87. Initial Model

88. Instrument Design

89. Data Collection

90. Methodology

91. Results

92. Limitations

93. Implications

95. Data Collection Stats: 4,961 recruitment tweets sent 1,137 survey completed – 2,084 surveys started – 54.6% of those who started the survey finished Overall response rate is 42.0% Response rate for those who completed 22.9% Total number of tweets sent 6,935

96. Recruitment Tweets Sample tweet screened for recruitment from @X: @Y You can always 'defriend' on FB, no? You should always have the option of 'correcting' your mistakes. :P Recruitment Tweet from @UnfriendStudy: @X I saw your tweet about unfriending.I have a survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/unfriend-t Your input very important.PhDstdnt

97. Twitter Profile

98. Sample Comparison

99. Sample Comparison

100. Sample Comparison

101. Unfriending Decisions

103. Background

104. Initial Model

105. Instrument Design

106. Data Collection

107. Methodology

108. Results

109. Limitations

110. Implications

113. Background

114. Initial Model

115. Instrument Design

116. Data Collection

117. Methodology

118. Results

119. Limitations

120. Implications

122. Friend Request Chi-square test 55.9 with 5 degrees of freedeom. Two-tailed signficance is .0001.

123. Friend Request – Unfriend Decision

124. Friend Request – Unfriended By

125. Possible Explanations Those with lower status tend to be the person who initiates friendship with someone in the real world – this may be true in the online world also Messages from people with lower status tend to be regarded as unimportant by those who have higher status

126. Individual Factor Differences

127. Individual Factor Differences

128. Individual Factors - Online

129. Individual Factors - Offline

130. Factor Analysis

131. Construct Creation Four online constructs and two offline Online Unimportant/frequent, polarizing posts, inappropriate posts and everyday life posts Offline Disliked Behavior Change in Relationship Questions moved to more appropriate constructs: Racist: from polarizing to inappropriate. New Information: from behavior to change

132. Reliability

133. Factors in Online and Offline Unfriending Analyzed 323 online reasons and 195 offline reasons for unfriending. Covariates include: length of friendship, how often the friend was seen in the last year, how many friends are in common, age, gender, education, years in social networks, and whether the person lives in the U.S.

135. Posted too often about unimportant topics

136. Posted too often about polarizing topics

137. Posted too often about inappropriate topics

138. Posted too often about everyday life topics

140. Comparison Results Online constructs all had higher levels of agreement when the person said they unfriended for online reasons Offline constructs all had higher levels of agreement when the person said they unfriended for offline reasons

141. MANCOVA Results

142. MANCOVA Covariate Results

143. Factor Comparisons Online vs. Offline

144. Final Model

146. Background

147. Initial Model

148. Instrument Design

149. Data Collection

150. Methodology

151. Results

152. Limitations

153. Implications

156. Background

157. Initial Model

158. Instrument Design

159. Data Collection

160. Methodology

161. Results

162. Limitations

163. Implications

165. They may want to avoid posting too frequently about unimportant topics, posting about polarizing topics, posting about inappropriate topics, and posting about everyday life.

168. Bundle posts from users who post frequently

169. Promote lists, make them easier to use

171. Background

172. Initial Model

173. Instrument Design

174. Data Collection

175. Methodology

176. Results

177. Limitations

178. Implications

180. Future Research Stronger Theory Tie Strength in dyad Need to examine who and why the tie dissolves Examine entire lifecycle from formation to dissolution

181. Lessons? Friendship model Voluntary interdependence Difficult-to-maintain Values Stimulation – be entertaining – be interesting – “I don’t care what you had for breakfast – unless it was awesome.” Utility – economic (promotion) non-economic (information, fix problems, etc.) Ego-support – Products can support ego – smart phones, smart car, smart food, intelligent office, “choosy Moms choose Jif,” “We lost your luggage but are looking for it.”

182. Thank you- Questions?-Or more about the study?

183. Additional information about the study The following slides contain data collected and analyzed that have not been peer-reviewed

184. Who is Saddened by Unfriending? How the person valued the peak of the relationship (higher peak – more saddened) How often the person looks at their friends number (more looking – more saddened) Whether the person talked to someone about the unfriending – not the person who did the unfriending (more talk – less saddened) Whether the person thought the unfriending was related to a change in the relationship (more related to change – less saddened) Age, gender, etc. are not statistically significant factors

185. Friendship Peak Differences Survey respondents who made unfriending decisions valued the relationship less than the person who was unfriended at statistically significantly different levels When a person makes a decision to unfriend someone they may want consider that the other person valued the friendship more than they did

186. Watch What You Say Online Racist Speech 0.4% of survey respondents agreed that they make racist posts online 8.2% of people say they unfriended someone who made a racist remark Avoid statements like, “I’m not a racist but…” you will sound like a racist. Arizona immigration law posts Political Speech 20% of survey respondents agreed that they make political posts online 16% of people say they unfriended someone who made a political post

187. Comments from the Survey On Children: New parents being boring about how wonderful they think their child is just as dull on facebook as it is IRL. updating about going out to dinner, how cute your kids are or how much you hate the president are all stupid. On Eating: I have unfriended people in the past because of inane status updates. I don't care what you're eating for lunch, or that you're still at work. At least post something interesting. It gets boring reading what people have had for their dinner! I don't care if you just woke up or are getting coffee via loopt I don't care what they had for breakfast...unless it was awesome. Please keep your breakfast consumption to yourself!

188. Comments from the Survey Interesting/Important/Entertaining It should be important to them. Entertainment factors and humor are valid reasons to update. Sometimes the most interesting updates are when people don't have anything to say at all. Interesting comments/updates are better than "important" updates Not necessarily important, but funny or clever or interesting in some way. Something interesting more than important Or something interesting. depends on whether or not it's interesting. It gets really tiring when all someone has to say is their mundane little daily activities or gush about their family/lover/new car. If someone has nothing to say, but posts something creative or interesting, then that is appreciated. Some people are more amusing than others and are interesting even when they have nothing important to say There shouldn't be any strict rules. Post what you want to post, hopefully, it's interesting. If it isn't, well, that's what the ignore button is for. I do not mind if people have random updates. They do not have to be important, but I'd prefer that they would be interesting/amusing to read. .....

192. Media Attention to this Study UCD Newsroom: Business School student finds top reasons for Facebookunfriending, Oct 5, 2010 NY Times, How to Get Unfriended on Facebook, Pamela Paul, Oct 22, 2010 Le Monde, November 28th, 2010 Newspapers in Chile, Portugal, Italy CNN – American Morning - interview, How to Tactfully “Unfriend” Someone, October 11, 2010 9 News Denver Radio – Colorado Matters – Was it something I said, Nov 15, 2010, KOA, KHOW, Bogota Columbia on-air interview on “National Unfriend Day.”

193. Thank you- Questions?