Unfriending on Facebook: Friend Request and

Online/Offline Behavior AnalysisChristopher Sibona

Advisor: Steven WalczakInformation SystemsThe Business School

University of Colorado Denver

Presentation

• Overview• Background• Initial Model• Instrument Design• Data Collection• Methodology• Results• Limitations• Implications• Future Research

Research Questions

1. What is the role of the friend request in unfriending decisions.

2. Can factors in unfriending decisions be found and do differences in the perception of online and offline behaviors vary depending on the unfriending decision.

OverviewThe 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:1. Too frequently about unimportant topics2. Polarizing topics3. Inappropriate topics4. Everyday life topics compared to those who unfriended for

offline reasons

Background

• Unfriend was named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary for 2009 (Goldsmith, 2009).

• unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

Online Social Networks

The systems allow individuals to 1. Construct a public or semi-public profile

within a bounded system,2. Articulate a list of other users with whom

they share a connection, and 3. View and traverse their list of connections

and those made by others within the systemboyd and Ellison, 2007

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).

Friendship ModelPaul Wright, 1969

• Voluntary Interdependence• Difficult-to-maintain• Values of Friendship

– Stimulation– Utility– Ego

Friendship ProcessFour elements:1. P must desire to have O as a friend

(attraction)2. P must initiate a move to establish a

friendship with O. 3. O must recognize P’s overture of friendship. 4. O must reciprocate P’s offer of friendship

Hallinan, 1979

Facebook• One person initiates a friend request and one

person receives the request• If the friend request is accepted the two

becomes friends on Facebook• It takes agreement to become friends on

Facebook• Visible links are generated• The friend request is very clear in the online

environment compared to real life

Friendship Dissolution

• Not simply friendship formation in reverse• Some friendships end in conflict but most friendships

fade away• No permission needed to end a friendship in either

the online or offline world• In the online world it is clear that someone made a

conscious decision to unfriend the other.• Online unfriending does not necessarily mean offline

unfriendingDuck, 1982; Sprecher and Fehr, 1998; Baxter, 1979.

Netiquette• Formal and social rules can govern what is

posted online• 15% of all messages in Usenet forums are

considered conduct correcting (Smith et al., 1997)

• Facebook has formal rules• Facebook users can act as moderators to their

wall – delete posts, limited profiles• Ultimately, Facebook users can unfriend those

whose posts are troubling

What Americans do onlineRank Category 2010 Share of

time2009 Share of time

% Change

1 Social Networks 22.7% 15.8% 43%

2 Online Games 10.2% 9.3% 10%

3 E-mail 8.3% 11.5% -28%

4 Portals 4.4% 5.5% -19%

5 Instant Messaging 4.0% 4.7% -15%

6 Videos/Movies 3.9% 3.5% 12%

7 Search 3.5% 3.4% 1%

8 Software Manufacturers 3.3% 3.3% 0%

9 Multi-category Entertainment

2.8% 3.-% -7%

10 Classifieds/Auctions 2.7% 2.7% -2%

Other 34.3% 37.3% -8%

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

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

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

Recruitment TweetsSample 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.PhD stdnt

Friend Request – Unfriend Decision

I initiated Other initiated DK0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Unfriend DecisionExpected

Friend Request – Unfriended By

I initiated Other initiated DK0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Unfriended ByExpected

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

ReliabilityMeasure Questions Cronbach’s

alphaNum of Qtns

Unimportant/Frequent

Unimportant, Frequent .693 2

Polarizing Politics, Religion .766 2Inappropriate

Inappropriate, sex, swearing, sexist, racist, unflattering

.826 6

Everyday Life Exercise, purchases, eating, money, job, celebrities, pets, sports, promotion, child, spouse

.917 11

Behavior Did misdeed, dislike, behavior, personality, trust, betray, broke rule

.920 7

Change Divorce, romantic end, incompatible friends, geography, new information

.677 5

Implications

• Those who are negatively affected by unfriending may wish to avoid certain behaviors

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

• Narrowcast postings to those who may be interested in your posts

Facebook Implications

• Facebook’s mission is to: “give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

• Bundle posts from users who post frequently• Promote lists, make them easier to use• Machine learning – let people code which kinds

of posts they are interested in seeing and avoid those they are not interested in seeing

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.”

Thank you-

Questions?