Do you delete people off Facebook if they don't post/are inactive?

[awkwarddd]

I don't really post on Facebook and never have. I recently logged back in as I wanted to use messenger, and realised that my Facebook profile picture was around 10 years old from when I was 16 so I've now updated it.

Since being on it I've realised a lot of people have removed me as a friend, including people I was best friends with as a teenager. I still have lots of mutual friends with them (like 50 mutual friends), so it's not like they culled everyone from their teenage years.

Would people delete me because I never posted and my picture was 10 years old, so they just presumed I didn't use it anymore?

I just feel kind of sad about it, I wish I had kept in contact with friends

I was best friends with a girl like that at high school. I joined Facebook at 35 and gave her a friend request, she accepted but I'm pretty sure she mutes my posts. Soon after reaching out to her I found out she's split from a long term partner whilst I'd just had my 3rd baby. You have to make effort to maintain relationships. So in real life you'd speak to people. Online you'd be liking their posts, wishing them happy birthday or congratulations, basically engage.

Send friend requests and then make the effort. Or just log out of Facebook, appreciate that chapter of your life is over and focus on maintaining relationships in real life.

@Sceptre86 yes this is it. Facebook is a tool it’s not in and of itself a means of maintaining a friendship!

Yes. I keep my friends list very short so delete people every now and then. It's not personal!

What’s a lurker though?

I haven’t written or posted anything to my “wall” for years and I don’t tend to interact with other people’s posts - if I want to talk to them I’ll contact them directly. I’m not “lurking” though because I’m on Facebook only for marketplace and to check local information (wine shop advertises their wine tasting nights, book group uses Facebook to share time and place of next meeting etc).

Saying that, I wouldn’t care (or notice) if someone unfriended me because I don’t use Facebook for that. I’d find it a bit weird if someone accused me of lurking or being a Peeping Tom though.

I delete people if I no longer see them or have any kind of relationship with them.

I have a bit of a strange method, I delete people I no longer talk to if I get reminded of their birthday. So if a notification pops up and I don't speak to them enough to wish them a happy birthday then I delete them.

Barely post on Facebook now, more so for older relatives who want more words than they'd get on Instagram. But I don't keep in contact with friends on Facebook at all any more. Met someone at a party recently who said "oohhh I'll add you on Facebook" and it felt really strange considering a few years ago that's all you'd hear!

I don't, if someone didn't post in 10 years then I'd just forget they were even on Facebook. I don't look through my friends list.

I delete people off social media all the time. If they add me generally I give it a month and if they don’t speak to me then I delete them again. I don’t like people lurking being nosy. I take the time a couple of times a year to clear out the list and keep it to people I’m in contact with and would meet for a coffee if the opportunity came up.

I keep them all, just like in the olden days I wouldn't have thrown away their number just becuase we hadn't spoken in a while.

You never know when you might need to get in touch and there's no harm in having them on the list.

I know some people do sanitise their friends list and I've done with with people who post too much spam or anything nasty, but not just becuase were not really in touch anymore.

🤣🤣 Come on, you must realise that those who are inactive are probably just “inactive” on Facebook generally and not “spying” on you. I doubt you’re so interesting that they hang around on Facebook just to watch what you’re doing!

I never post anything on Facebook. I only go on for the groups. I don’t have time to spy on people 🤣

Isn't the point of posting on FB that you want people to know the stuff 😆

I'm not putting up anything an old aquaintance shouldn't see.

Yes, I delete people I don't interact with. I know people who just use FB to nose at people to see what they are up to. I can't be doing with them.

I sometimes delete inactive friends - it depends on our connection. For example I recently deleted a couple of people who I did a postgraduate course with several years ago. We hadn't been in touch since, they didn't seem to have posted, and hadn't interacted with any of my posts. I don't like "lurkers", if indeed they are even using FB. But on the other hand, I still keep friends from my first job who don't really post because I like that link to my past.

No. Tbh I don't think I'd even notice. I am staggeringly unobservant about that sort of stuff.

Yes I have a cull. Usually when their birthdays pop up and I think I haven't seen or spoken to them for a long time. I unfriend them then

When I was on, I would delete anyone who wasn't adding something beneficial to my life (too many "look at me" posts and they were gone) or who looked like they were no longer using it. I wasn't there to collect friends.

In the end I deleted myself from it and have never looked back. The fact that you are feeling sad because people have left or maybe removed you should tell you something. Social media tends not to be great for mental health. Even if they keep you, then they might not reply to you or might not reply quickly enough or fully enough or nicely enough and all that "stuff".

For me, I figured if my friends wanted to keep in touch with me then they would. They didn't, so I found new friends who didn't use SM and who lived near me.