Uh Oh, You've Been Unfriended

 

1. Offensive Comments
2. Don’t know them well
3. Trying to sell me something
4. Depressing comments
5. Lack of interaction
6. Political comments
7. Breakup / divorce
8. Don’t like their friends
9. Update profile too often
10. They add too many people

According to a survey by nmincite.com, these are the top ten reasons people unfriend on Facebook. I recently realized that I had been unfriended, and I knew, due to the timing and comparison of our posts, that the unfriending was reason #6, political comments. This is not my first unfriending, and although I merely speculated about the other two, they also pointed to reason #6. I do keep track of my friends because the number is manageable, and my main reason for socializing on Facebook was to maintain contact with family and friends, which, according to the aforementioned study, is the objective of 89% of people on Facebook. Notice I said was? If anyone had told me ten years ago that I would be posting political commentary in a blog or engaging in conversations with activists via social media, I would have shrugged it off as highly unlikely. I have always been rebellious, but until recently, I have never been one to take a strong political stance.

This recent unfriending prompted me to ask myself, "Why am I using social media?" The answer came quickly and easily - because it is an accepted platform that enables me to express my opinion about all that is important to me in life. My list began with family and friends, but has grown to include writers, publishers, artists, advocates, activists, and yes, even radicals. And I love and/or admire each and every one of them for who they are and what they stand for. And who they are, and what they stand for, does not have to fit precisely into what I believe for I have always believed that the world would be a very boring place if we all thought exactly alike.

I'm not sorry that my liberal postings and bleeding heart comments have caused me to lose friends on Facebook, because that is who I am, and I prefer controversy to remaining silent. Bending to the beliefs of others or subscribing to rhetoric based on hasty generalizations are not my style. I'm passionate about bringing the truth to light and my writing will typically incorporate deductive reasoning, sometimes inductive reasoning, but it is never based on argumentum ad populum, i.e., "everyone knows that a true American would never be in favor of gun control."

Social media has more than its fair share of misrepresentation and fallacious data. Aside from blatant fabricated information, the fact remains that when we communicate this way, we open ourselves up to the perception of the individual reading the post or tweet. I am not offended by anyone who disagrees with me unless their viewpoint violates basic human rights and oversteps the boundaries of common decency. My hope is that my writing reflects who I am as a person, and that others will have a clear idea of what I believe in. They can choose to agree or disagree, respect me or not, even unfriend me if they wish. It does not matter as long as we have a forum where we can voice our opinions, express our concerns, and are given the right to choose our very own circle of friends. Wikipedia defines democracy as "a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives." And that, is much more important than a difference of opinion.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-unfriend-on-facebook-2013-3#ixzz2PzaOC0Pq