Download - Facebook Unfriend Study
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?