New research from the University of Colorado Denver reveals that the No. 1 reason for unfriending on Facebook is frequent, unimportant posts. Next up is posting about polarizing topics such as religion and politics. Inappropriate posts such as crude or racist comments — were the third reason for being booted from a friend’s list.
Nobody wants to hear about your favorite band for the hundredth time, and, just like at office parties, it’s socially questionable to opine on religion or politics, said Christopher Sibona, the doctoral student who conducted the research.
Sibona — who is in UC Denver’s Computer Science and Information Systems program — said he delved into the study after his wife responded to a high school friend’s post that was political in nature and then was abruptly unfriended.
His research will be published in January by the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Facebook has 500 million users worldwide.
