Defriending is the New Friending

By Digiday • February 27, 2012 •

Could the pendulum finally start swinging the other way when it comes to social network oversharing?

According to a new study from Pew, that may just be the case, at least when it comes to friending and privacy settings. The findings suggest that people are more selective about who and how many contacts they maintain on social networks. According to Pew, compared to 2009 all the major metrics for profile management are up: 63 percent of respondents have deleted people from their “friends” lists (up from 59 percent in 2009). Forty-four percent have deleted other comments made by others on their own profiles, and 37 percent have detagged themselves from photos.

Interestingly, women are slightly more likely to defriend people than men (67 percent female respondents compared to 58 percent of male respondents). Also, younger social network users are more likely to defriend than older users.

Perhaps the most surprising finding is that only 11 percent of respondents said they have posted content they regret. Of course, I bet their friends might rate that a bit higher.

See the full study report here.