Facebook friend break-up? Study shows why people add and remove friends

Have you wondered why your Facebook friends list has shot up or declined lately? Well, it’s not them, it’s you.

A recent study by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company, suggests that there’s various, and many reasons, behind people friending and de-friending you on the social network site. The company researched reasons for both scenarios and compared them between males and females.

Read more at GlobalPost: Facebook launches suicide prevention hotline

Believe it, or not, research showed that real world interaction with your Facebook friends actually drives your online friendships. More females were likely to add friends they know outside of the internet, while more males were likely to add people due to mutual friends. It also showed that the average Facebook user has at least 130 friends. The rest of the add-on reasons got pretty superficial after that, with physical attractiveness, increasing friend count and the habit of friending everyone making the list.

But in both the removal and add-on departments, Facebook etiquette played a huge role. The number one reason for removing friends was “offensive comments,” with 55 percent, Gawker reported. This was followed by factors such as not knowing someone well enough (41 percent), friends trying to sell you something constantly (39 percent) and depressing comments (23 percent).

Read more at GlobalPost: NYPD in trouble over racist Facebook page

The research also showed some divides in how men and women use social networking. More men were likely to use Facebook for careers and networking, while women were attracted to it as a creative outlet, to get coupons and promotions or to give positive feedback.

Pretty much, the lesson from this study is to not post offensive comments or status and to make sure you’re in a good light in your default photo.