Is Facebook removing my friends?

[archeryguy1701]

I think FB had just kinda been funky recently. I notice the same sort of thing, with one minor exception. I notice that my friend count does regularly go down.... but I've noticed that it also goes back up. My number is constantly fluctuating up and down without me adding anyone. Something that might contribute to this is some people might be getting hacked. I know that a few months ago, I got an email from Facebook saying that I had shut down my account. I went back, turned my account back on, changed my password, and never got the email again. So that may explain some of it.

 

[Snaploud]

"If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe."

...still the best line in all of fiction.

I could not agree more.

I need to buy TNG on DVD just for that episode.

Although, I think the actual quote is:

"If there's nothing wrong with me...then there must be something wrong with the universe."

It's more definitive, and the logic is freaking awesome.

 

[SicOne]

Seems to me that it's more of an effort to go through your Friends list and delete the folks you want to delete, whether you don't really want to be friends with them at all or if they just don't participate. I have around 300 peeps on FB and I've probably only messaged or commented with half of them; the rest are old classmates and such. But it's nice to have them there just in case you ever feel like messaging them, looking at photos of yesteryear on their pages, etc.

Depending upon how much time you spend on FB on a daily basis, you may feel compelled to trim up your Friends list in an attempt to declutter your page a bit, so you can get through it faster. Stands to reason that others feel the same, especially if you don't say much or comment on their posts. Don't take it personally; it's certainly (well, in all likelihood) not meant to offend.

 

[Trekker4747]

Cannot say I've ever had the desire to remove any of the "Friends" I have on FB. I've got people from the board on there whom I've only spoken too on-line. The only way I'd "remove" someone is if their posts are spammy. I used to have a group on there that supported the Joplin tornado disaster but they'd literally post and update/information or something every couple of minutes pushing all of the posts/links/videos from people off the main page. Got to be way too much so I hid their posts.

Another one of my "friends" a while back used Facebook way too much as sort-of a Twitter feed or something as she'd post pretty much a log of her day. There was a time she was driving back home from Texas and was posting about every interchange she went through, where she stopped to get lunch mid-trip, and arghhh. Done with her.

So if I have you on Facebook, fellow readers, and you do nothing more than post links and the occasional stray thought I've no intention to remove you.

 

[FordSVT]

I personally know a lot of people who have "de-cluttered" their FB pages over the last year or two. It was really fun for a lot of people to rack up a gigantic friends list in the first couple of years, but people (especially mid 20s+) are getting tired of seeing reams of crap from people they barely know. The people that are dropping you (and that's 100% what it is) are probably just people you barely know anyway.

I went from having about 350 friends a year ago to just over 200 this past Christmas. I asked myself a simple question: have I talked to you in person in the past five years? Do I care if I talk to you for another five years? If no, I removed them.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Is Facebook removing my friends?

No. Facebook is quietly killing all of your friends. And you are powerless to to stop it.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't Facebook, but if I did...

You'd prefer Dos Equis.

Thought about it while I was typing, but figured, what the hell, I'll leave it in, no-one else will think of it...

Heh, I was thinking of it, too.

I don't twitter, but when I do, my tweets are 200 characters long.

 

[Ethros]

I think Facebook has reached a saturation point. It's no longer something that is rapidly growing in popularity, and people who have been using it for a while are starting to realize they don't need to be friends with anybody they've ever come into contact with. The novelty is wearing off.

Yeah, I think its probably that.
I had a look through my friend list earlier because of this thread, and tried to think who's not on there anymore, and had a look at whether it's because they've removed their account, or just me.

A few had removed their accounts, a couple had obviously just had mass culls as before we had about 20 friends in common, whereas now it's like 3.
And for the ones who've just removed me, two were from my old job which I left in September 2007, so haven't seen or heard from them since. One was an old classmate I haven't seen for about 8 years, and another was a girl at my current job who left in late 2009, so again, haven't seen her since.

Oh well, that's fair enough I suppose, not a problem. I will however add them to my "enemies list" and at some point in the future hunt them down and kill them



Thing is, a lot of people do clutter up your Feed page. But there's a way to hide people's updates from your feed, so you never have to wade through their crap, but you're still Friends with them. I find that easier to do than befriend them, I dunno, "just in case" I suppose

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Seems it's not all that uncommon to get defriended on Facebook for just not being entertaining enough. Conversely, one could also find oneself dropped for being too "entertaining" (like someone who likes posting the minute-by-minute minutiae of their day ).

Also, I've often wondered if one of the more common "oh, yeah" moments for a typical Facebook poster isn't, "Oh, yeah, now I remember why I couldn't stand that guy in high school!"

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I try not to post more than once a twice or day. The world is not ready for a constant stream of my mind spew.

 

[od0_ital]

I defriend folks every few months, or if something really specific comes up to piss me off. And in all the time I've had Facebook, I've only gotten one angry response from a defriend-y, and his response didn't make me feel so bad about cuttin' him out of my life, since we had, up to that point, hung out together quite a few times & he had even helped me move into my last apartment.

I also try to keep my friends list under 100 people, and most everyone who is on it, I've known in my real life, they aren't just "internet friends."

As for the OP, I don't think Facebook is deletin' your friends - I think folks ya thought of as friends are deletin' you. And unless is your SO or a relative or something, I wouldn't worry so much about it.

 

[SicOne]

Seems it's not all that uncommon to get defriended on Facebook for just not being entertaining enough. Conversely, one could also find oneself dropped for being too "entertaining" (like someone who likes posting the minute-by-minute minutiae of their day ).

Also, I've often wondered if one of the more common "oh, yeah" moments for a typical Facebook poster isn't, "Oh, yeah, now I remember why I couldn't stand that guy in high school!"

I try not to post more than once a twice or day. The world is not ready for a constant stream of my mind spew.

These, most definitely!

There are some on my Friends list that were classmates in high school that I seldom spoke to back then, much less now, but since I'm on the reunion committee, it just makes more sense (and less effort) to keep them around for the 30th reunion in a few years.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I've removed a lot of people on facebook, but most of them were people I used to play games with, but now uninterested in playing virtually all games. When I removed these people, I posted a status a day or two before, and several people thought I was deleted them. Plus had people who have removed me. Quite fun finding out later. Some bother me, while many others don't.

I'm trying to keep my friend total between 150 and 200, but never have a problem with reading my newsfeed. I can always read several different newsfeeds.

 

[Ethros]

So I thought with the topic maybe I used Facebook a bit too much.

But reading this news story makes me think I could be worse!

 

[K'Ehleyr]

So I thought with the topic maybe I used Facebook a bit too much.

But reading this news story makes me think I could be worse!

The only word is 'Why'?

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Actually, last fall I ran into one of my friends at an event, and she asked me why I'd defriended her on Facebook. But the thing is, I hadn't defriended her on Facebook.

The only explanation is that Facebook hiccuped or something, and the connection just got dropped for no apparent reason.

I have heard others I know IRL mention this - that they thought a FB friend defriended them, only to discover that it was some sort of glitch.

On the flip side, I have one friend who periodically cancels her account and comes back a few months later. She doesn't even have to send me another invite - all of a sudden she just appears on my list again.

It's a mystery - I don't really understand how connections can be dropped without either party defriending...nor do I understand how someone can delete their account and come back 5 months later like nothing happened and instantly have all their friends back.

But both do happen.

 

[Ethros]

^ Well on the "Deactivate account" page there is a setting for This is temporary. I'll be back.

It says

Remember, you can reactivate at any time by logging in with your email and password, although you must have access to your current login email address. Also note that your admin status in any groups or events will not be automatically restored after activation.

So I think you can just do it temporarily if you want. My sister did it once, her page vasnished and my count went down, but a few weeks later she reactivated and it was like nothing happened.

So I thought with the topic maybe I used Facebook a bit too much.

But reading this news story makes me think I could be worse!

The only word is 'Why'?

Aw, it looks like it was actually a hoax
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/woman%E2%80%99s-152-facebook-tattoos-a-hoax.html



While on the topic of FB, one thing that annoys is me the Location tracker thing.
Friend X is with Friend Y at Location Z

Who cares? Ha, it just seems pretty attention whoring to me. That you think others must know where you are at any given momemt. Basically it just another method of showing off. "ooh look I'm out with all my friends at some hip joint, aren't I the coolest?"

No. You're not.

 

[Kestra]

Yeah, deleting your Facebook account is a different procedure than simply deactivating it, which is what most people do. If you absolutely want to delete your account make sure to take the proper steps.