Unfriended? Blame Your Offensive and Depressing Comments

Just post cat videos and photos of meals like everyone else and you'll have nothing to worry about.

Have you ever wondered why the number of friends you have on Facebook keeps shrinking? Has it ever entered your mind that maybe you're just a despicable human being? Well, that's kind of the answer offered by a new study that examined why Facebook users lose or gain friends. NM Incite, the marketing firm behind the study, found that the main reason people unfriend someone is because they post offensive comments, with 55 per cent of the study's 1,865 respondents citing that as a reason why they stopped bothering with their digital "friend". Behind offensive comments came not knowing the friend that well (41 per cent), followed by the friend trying to sell the respondents something (39 per cent). Posting depressing comments earned the ire of 23 per cent respondents, while a lack of interaction was cited by a fifth of them. Fourteen per cent said political comments led to unfriendings, while a breakup or a divorce was cited by only 11 per cent of respondents. So, you got that? Just like in real life, if you're offensive, leverage friendships to make sales, or whine and complain incessantly, you'll lose friends.