Facebook Friend Culling

Hello blog,

I am home sick from work today, so while I sit here in my bed with a box of tissues and my waterbottle close at hand, I thought I'd share with you my plan for today.

It VERY recently occurred to me that I should probably think about deleting some of my Facebook friends.

I never thought I'd be that person.

That person who deletes you off their friend list without even telling you.


But I think I understand it now.
I'm 22 years old and I have people on my Facebook who I haven't talked to in 5 years!!!!

That is quite a long time.

That's more than my entire time at University.



I've had to ask myself, why this obsession with having more Facebook friends than other people?
I tried to justify it to myself by saying it'll help my music.
But to be honest, the people I haven't talked to in 5 years have no interest in my music.
Keeping them around isn't even helping that cause.

My other reason was because it made me feel better about myself, which in itself is quite sad.


I have 810 Facebook friends.
There is NO WAY I am actually friends with that many people.

2013 has been a year of change for me. A year of growth. Of development.
I am sorting out my life. I am learning how to manage the experiences that have shaped me.
I am coming to terms with who I am.
This year has been detrimental to me. I am very glad I have had the opportunity to look at my life introspectively and learn what makes me tick.

I feel like part of the growth for this year means that I need to do some Facebook friend culling.
I feel very iffy about it. I really don't want to be that person who deletes people off their Facebook.

But I have to. It will be something positive.

It means I'll be letting go of that idea that my number of Facebook friends equals how important I am.

Its realising that it is simply impossible to have 810 friends.


Friendships are so important to me, and in order to maintain the friendships that actually matter, you have to let go of those that don't.



I read these interesting articles on Facebook Friend Culling:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Discerning-With-Your-Facebook-Friends

http://www.howstuffworks.com/internet/tips/how-to-cull-facebook-friends-list.htm



And there's even an app on Facebook which makes it easier:
https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/friend-cull



According to the FriendCull app, I have 443 Silent Friends (who don't seem to use Facebook)
126 Most Cullable Friends who I have little to NO interaction with
22 Least Cullable Friends, who I have a lot of interaction with. People like Aimee (who's my TOP FRIEND hehe), Lyndon, Chloe, Joella etc.
and 188 Middle Friends, who I have some interaction with.

Do you see your picture in there??????




At any rate, my eyes have truly been opened.

I don't know how I have justified having so many Facebook friends for this long. ESPECIALLY since I am so open with sharing information about myself. I guess that comes from being a songwriter and just being all: BLAAAAAH THESE ARE MY EMOTIONS. YOU CAN LOOK AT THEM IF YOU WANT.




Now the question stands, how many people do I cull?
Those who don't care about my culling will be the easiest. People I haven't talked to in 5 odd years.
But what about the people who have some sort of idea that we are still friends even though we aren't?
Hmmmmmmm.




I guess I'll just start small and see how I go.

I encourage you, dearest blog reader, to try the FaceCull app for yourself and see what it says.

It may surprise you.


My friend Katie P once told me that you either have EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER MET as Facebook Friends, or you only have your actual friends as Facebook Friends. Its either one or the other. And I think she's totally right.
She has since deactivated her Facebook account.


I'm going to go now. By tonight, I would have completed my Facebook Friend Cull, so if we are still friends, it means I consider you a real-life friend or at least a very good acquaintance.


Thanks for reading my blog. I hope I have inspired you to look at your own Friends List and maybe do some spring-cleaning of your own.

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