Did you find out that I unfriended you on Facebook, and do you want to know why?
Well, obviously you can’t read this message on my Facebook page anymore, so let me explain. There are several reasons why I would unfriend people on Facebook.
- You’re frequently “liking and sharing” commercial advertisements on Facebook, obviously because you hope to win a designer bag, a 3-day trip to a shitty hotel in the middle of nowhere, whatever. I don’t like commercials when I’m watching TV, and certainly not when I’m on my Facebook page.
- I find your political views appalling. As it is your right to advocate possession of firearms, day in, day out, it’s my right to unfriend you if you do so.
- You’re not a real friend; you just befriended me on Facebook to find out what I’m up to.
These might not be one of the reasons I have unfriended you. Recently I unfriended some people who once were my friends in real life. They were not only my friends, but also friends of my second wife or of one of my former girlfriends. When I returned to Holland in August 2011, they befriended me on Facebook, not because they wanted to be my friends, but because they were curious. They never responded to anything I wrote, they were just lurking. In October 2012 something wonderful happened to me: I found my long lost son, after more than 30 years, and all my real friends on Facebook were happy for me. However, some of my former real life friends didn’t respond at all, which was rather peculiar. Later I heard from one of my exes that all my Facebook messages were passed on to her by some of these ‘friends’. So I unfriended everyone of my real life friends that fitted the description of a lurker: a person who observes, but does not actively participate.