National Unfriend Day – What’s the Etiquette of Facebook?
Did you know that today is National Unfriend Day? This event was the brain child of Jimmy Kimmel, who came up with the notion as a joke in 2010. National Unfriend Day is a time when you rid yourselves of all those so-called “friends” you have on Facebook. You know the ones I mean–the people whose names you don’t recognize or whose pictures doesn’t look the least bit familiar–probably because those are in fact photos of their pets or grandchildren.
If you could take a poll of people on the street similar to the one Jimmy Kimmel did with people wearing face masks (so as to conceal their identity), you would find all sorts of reasons people give for unfriending others. The impetus for dropping so-called friends ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Here are but a few of the Facebook “friends” you might want to abandon:
- The people who are not truly friends. You know this because if you became ill, they wouldn’t show up with a pot of chicken soup. In fact, if you died, they wouldn’t come to your funeral. They probably wouldn’t even know you were dead unless someone posted it on Facebook.
- The people who wish you a happy birthday online but wouldn’t go to the trouble of calling or sending you a card. They probably don’t know your phone number.
- The people who send you quotes every day of things other people have said. They never have an original thought, or if they do, you don’t know it.
- The people you only hear from when they are on vacation in some exotic place. Meanwhile you are back home slaving away at your job.
- The people who think you want to see what they ate for dinner last night.
- The people who post nothing but political rants. Clearly their point of view is the only one that counts.
- And my personal favorite; The people who think because you too are an animal lover, you want to see every horrible act of animal cruelty that they can turn up.
That is the short list. I am sure you can add to it and wish you would. But how do you unfriend others? It’s easy. You simply go to your Facebook page, Click the “Friend” box to the right of their name and their cat’s photograph, You will get a drop down list with the last option being “Unfriend.” Click it and poof–unfriended!
Chances are they will never notice and certainly never miss you. After all, it has always been about them and not about you. The next time you go to your Facebook page, you’ll be amazed at how neat and trim it will be. It’s somewhat akin to separating the wheat from the chaff.
Who are the people that you would like to unfriend???
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