Yes, I Broke Up With You on Facebook.

Hi, my name is Stefanie and I break up with "friends" on Facebook all the time. Let me explain.

Is there anyone who isn't on Facebook? Currently, Facebook is posting that they have more than 400 million active users with the average user having more than 130 friends and whoa - more than 35 million users update their status each day (get more fun Facebook stats here).

My ideas about Facebook and my social contract with other users has morphed quite a bit over the years. A few things have not changed:

1. I don't connect with people I don't know
2. If we "sort of" know each other, you've got to give me something in the initial friend request - why we should connect, or I typically ignore the request
3. I might break-up with you on a whim

I have always been a private person. I lock down most of my Facebook photo albums and I keep my updates fairly vanilla. And every so often ... I go on a break-up spree.

Don't be offended. It's not you, it's me.

As my "people I lock out of everything" group slowly grows, I get anxious. Why did I accept this person as a Facebook friend if I am not letting them see any of my stuff? And that's when you get broken-up with ... hopefully I just disappear from your feed and your thoughts.

Every so often, someone will ask, "did you break-up with me on Facebook"??? Well okay, break-up is my word for it, but you get the gist. Yes, I did break-up with you on Facebook.

Why? Because I'm keeping my Facebook profile personal, most of my work goes on my fan pages now. Like many of you, every member of my family is on ... plus my best friends, my college roommates, my sorority sisters and yes an ex or two and Facebook is how I communicate and keep up with them. I share photos, updates and news with them that *most* people that don't really know me would not be interested in seeing. I'm not saying that my 250 Facebook friends are all my best pals, but I do friend and unfriend with purpose. So really, it's not you, it's me.

I read a great post from Louis Gray the other day that explains this much better than I just did ... read it here.