Have you ever experienced that strange sensation of having been a Facebook friend with someone only to find out that you no longer are a Facebook friend with that person, and it wasn't you who de-friended them?
A few weeks ago I saw on the little running posts Facebook has on their site that a friend was tagged in a photo. I thought it was interesting because I was friends with both the person being tagged and the person who posted the picture, but I didn't see a posted picture on the News Feed. So I clicked on the notice of my friend being tagged and the photo came up. I then clicked on the friend who took the picture and I got the following prompt: +1 Add Friend.
Now, I understand there are a lot of reasons people de-friend others on Facebook (just as there are a lot of reasons why people friend each other on Facebook. In my history with the social medium, I've only de-friended one person
and he was a guy from Pakistan who was contacting my friends and telling
them he wanted to get married. I do have hundreds of Facebook friends and I know that many of them I rarely contact. Some I barely know. But when I find out that I am no longer someone's Facebook friend, my mind begins to ask questions. Did I offend them? Possibly... Did they really not want to friend me in the first place? Perhaps... Am I just too boring for their exciting, fast-paced, rock-n-roll, hipster world that me being listed as one of their electronic friends is somehow cramping their style? I'm sure that's it...
In the grand scheme of things, it's really not a big deal. I mean, I still consider myself friends with them even if it's not officially acknowledged by Facebook. It is, however, still a little strange when I run into a person that I know I was once their Facebook friend and no longer am. It's just a tad, well...weird.
You never know. I have unfriended everyone at one point because I deactivated my profile, then a year later, I deleted the profile completely and made a new one with the same name (don't even ask me why ... it's a long story). I'm pretty sure a few people assumed I unfriended them on purpose, but the truth is, I'm still trying to add everyone back that I would still like as friends on there, but I have a terrible memory figuring out everyone I was friends with before, so it's been slow-going re-adding everyone. Anyway, sometimes it's not what you think, is all I'm saying. :) Facebook and other social networks can easily make assuming things so easy. I'm now going to try to go find you on Facebook again, if I haven't already added you. I just don't do much on there besides add updates to my author page.
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