What is unfriend?

Definition – What does Unfriend mean?

Unfriend is the act of removing a friend from a social circle found on a social media site. Although unfriending has similarities with blocking a friend, it is different in the context of social media. Blocking a person prevents this person’s name from appearing in search results as well as prevents this person from contacting the person who has blocked him/her, whereas unfriending would not result in any of these and would just show that the person is no longer in the other person’s social circle.

Techopedia explains Unfriend

On most social media sites like Facebook, unfriending a person does not lead to any notification. There are many reasons why a person could be unfriended, and some of these reasons could be of emotional or personal nature. One of the primary reasons why an individual unfriends another is when there is a relationship breakdown between the two. People also tend to unfriend people who communicate aggressively or do not respond or reply according to their expectations. Another reason to unfriend someone is when there are numerous spam posts and unwanted communications from the person. People also tend to unfriend a person over time, if the person is just a casual acquaintance.
Unfriending a person could lead to real-life consequences as people tend to avoid others who have unfriended them. Unfriending also impacts social media relationships and directly impacts people. This could lead to reduced self-esteem, loss of control, and emotional and psychological problems. On most social media sites, unfriend is recommended only if unfollowing or blocking is not found helpful as the unfriended person could potentially find who has unfriended him or her.

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