National Unfriend Day!

I usually like to surf the Internet before I blog. I will read the news, check my fantasy football teams, read other blogs and check my e-mail before I finally settle down to blog. I know, it is probably not the best thing to do since by the time I am finished surfing I am ready to be done. But on occasion it works to my advantage since I will find topics I could blog about.

Just like today. Did you know that it is National Unfriend Day?

I had no idea. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel has declared that today, November 17th as National UnFriend Day. It is time to trim the fat.

Jimmy said: "We should have a lot of the real stuff. We should have less of the fake stuff like you have on Facebook. I'm asking you to unfriend anyone on Facebook who isn't really your friend - the annoying people. The people who feel the need to inform you of every thought that enters their head.... I would guess that 90% of your Facebook friends aren't even your friends at all. Most of them you probably don't even like."

Jimmy did note that this doesn't have to be hostile. Those that trim the fat may be trimming you as well.

"If you wouldn't loan someone $50 unfriend them," he said. "If you wouldn't invite them to your birthday party, unfriend them. If you wouldn't cry if they got hit by a bus, unfriend them. It's impossible to have 1,000 friends. Here's what you do. Post on Friday that you're moving and whoever responds and offers to help, is your friend.... It's time to cut out the friend fat in your life."

Now I have already blogged about how I feel about Facebook, the good and the bad. And I have to admit that I am a little particular when it comes to friends. Essentially it comes down to this:

"If I was your friend before Facebook I'll be your friend on Facebook"

This is what I enjoy the most about Facebook. I like to reconnect with those friends that I have lost contact for some reason or another. But I will not let everyone in the door. If I was a friend of yours before Facebook existed, chances are I will be your friend on Facebook. But this is not a popularity contest, just because I knew you in high school doesn't mean we were friends. If I thought you were a kind of jerkhole in high school chances are I will just laugh at your friend request and hit "Ignore".

But I think Jimmy is right. I think I need to weed out some of my friends. And the ones that I will weed out first are the ones that are making no effort to be friends. Usually when I get a friend request, especially from one that I have not spoken to in years, I will send them a message and try to catch up. If I get no message back, I think it is time to cut them out. No offense to them but if you don't want to even try (and how hard is it to send a e-mail people!) then I don't think we should even try to continue a friendship.

So if you are reading this and suddenly you find that you are not a friend of mine on Facebook? Maybe you should try a bit harder next time.