So you sign up to the exciting website that is facebook. Before too long you have found a lot of your old friends and your current friends and family, and one by one they have accepted your friend requests. As time goes by you get into the swing of things, updating your status, perhaps having a chat with a friend or two of an evening, commenting on others' statuses and generally keeping in touch with people.
And then you notice that a friend, or two, has disappeared from your friend list. And there is no explanation, no indication of why you have been dropped, you just have. You wonder whether the friends have closed their accounts, so you have a look at the friend lists of mutual friends, only to discover that they're all still friends.
You hear from a family member, her partner has been chatting to his ex who he happened to find on facebook, now the relationship is over and he's moved back in with the ex.
Then by chance you see a friend on a recommended list. A previously good friend, a much loved friend who you'd lost touch with, and eagerly you send a friend request, with a message saying how lovely it is to find them again, and eagerly anticipating catching up, you wait, and wait, and wait, but your friend request goes unanswered. And you're left wondering why.
People say "it's facebook, it's just a website. But is it? It may be a website, but those who interact there are real people. Would those same friends blank you in the street? would they say "no, sorry, I don't want to be your friend any more," to your face? or "I've decided not to be your friend." And yet the deletion of a friend, and the refusal to accept a friend request says the same thing, surely?