Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook Timeline Shows Who Has Unfriended You

Posted by timothy on from the but-aunt-lucy-it-was-just-a-figure-of-speech dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Currently, Facebook does not notify you when someone unfriends you on the social network. That may soon change with the upcoming Facebook Timeline feature, which will soon replace your current Facebook profile. Unless Facebook changes this, you can actually see who has unfriended you during any point in time while you've been on the social network."

77 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Moar drama! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Expect 43% more butthurt in the coming weeks.

  2. Its a good feature by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 1

    I had an app under development that would mail you whenever someome unfriends you..

    not needed now i guess

    1. Re:Its a good feature by Animats · · Score: 1

      I had an app under development that would mail you whenever someome unfriends you..

      Just add a "Revenge" button.

  3. Done With That by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I unfriended Facebook. Google may not be any less evil, but they make it dead easy to control who my posts go to, don't spam me with game spam bullshit every couple of days and they don't change my profile and settings every couple of months without so much as a "by-your-leave."

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Done With That by zullnero · · Score: 2, Informative

      You should check out Diaspora*, just saying. If you are concerned about having to choose between the lesser of two evils and all. They're currently rolling out invites for the beta, so be patient.

    2. Re:Done With That by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      You should check out Diaspora*

      It doesn't look bad.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Done With That by interkin3tic · · Score: 2

      I'm still hoping to get my invite to diaspora, and I'll be delighted if it takes off, but lets be honest: it's never going to reach where even google+ is right now. Quitting facebook and google+ for diaspora is basically quitting social networking altogether. As I understand it, diaspora had two selling points: one it was not under the control of a large corporation who could abuse you, and two you were able to choose who you shared what with. Google+ scooped that second feature already, and it probably won't be long before facebook does too if they haven't already.

      I don't think highly enough of my friends to be that they'll make the switch due to privacy reasons alone.

      (Now seems like a good time to remind mods not to mod the messenger down just because they don't like the message...)

    4. Re:Done With That by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1

      I unfriended Facebook. Google may not be any less evil, but they make it dead easy to control who my posts go to, don't spam me with game spam bullshit every couple of days and they don't change my profile and settings every couple of months without so much as a "by-your-leave."

      I think that's a start in the direction of 'less evil'. I know the pendulum has switched from geeks loving Google, to it being chic to bash them. But overall, I think they've been pretty solid corporate citizens for a company of their size.

    5. Re:Done With That by Riceballsan · · Score: 2

      Diaspora is a wonderful concept, unfortunately it will never have any chance to take off. Development is far too slow, I think it had a small chance back at the timeframe they released the pre-alpha demo. At that timeframe they were newsworthy enough and actually getting positive media focus. Then we found out they fscked everything up, their security bugs were so ubundant, the code seemed so poorly cobbled together that most developers coders, possible investors who were interested in the product with a promise of security and control, pretty much freaked out and ran away. Next they basically haven't made any real announcements or anything for about a year. Bottom line is, they need to get a shit ton of users converted at once. That is not something that has ever been possible with the only real advantage toted is "it's open source" "it's not run by a big evil company". Especially when they can't even guarantee security.

    6. Re:Done With That by __Paul__ · · Score: 3, Informative

      As I understand it, diaspora had two selling points: one it was not under the control of a large corporation who could abuse you, and two you were able to choose who you shared what with. Google+ scooped that second feature already, and it probably won't be long before facebook does too if they haven't already

      Facebook has had that for a while - at least a year, anyway, using Lists. You can choose to post updates/photos/whatever to people who are members of a list, and only those people will see it. It's worked well for quite a while - until this week, as they have changed it so that people on those lists can now see who else is on the list, which is quite a step backwards. Unfortunately, it mirrors Google+ behaviour in this regard.

      --
      worldmobilenet.com -- World Prepaid Wireless Internet plans
    7. Re:Done With That by syockit · · Score: 1

      An episode in Diaspora:

      Friend A: Dude check out my diaspora page! I've set up my own server to show it!
      Friend B: Okay, will check out.

      Hours later

      Friend B: I can't access your page. What happened?
      Friend A: Sorry, I'm offline now. Why don't you try accessing it again later when I turn on my computer?

      --
      Democracy is for the people; you only vote once per season and we'll do the rest of the work for you don't have to.
    8. Re:Done With That by coolmadsi · · Score: 1

      As I understand it, diaspora had two selling points: one it was not under the control of a large corporation who could abuse you, and two you were able to choose who you shared what with. Google+ scooped that second feature already, and it probably won't be long before facebook does too if they haven't already

      Facebook has had that for a while - at least a year, anyway, using Lists. You can choose to post updates/photos/whatever to people who are members of a list, and only those people will see it. It's worked well for quite a while - until this week, as they have changed it so that people on those lists can now see who else is on the list, which is quite a step backwards. Unfortunately, it mirrors Google+ behaviour in this regard.

      I didn't think you could see what Google+ list you were on (so wouldn't see who else was on that list). I think if something was posted to that list, you would be able to see who else it was shared with, but it could have been a custom list of names, or a selection of different lists (you could, of course, probably work it out by tracking common posting recipients).

      I did see that Facebook created lists, however it was a bit too late as I would have to go through my entire list of friends to sort them if I wanted to use them (which I don't really have the time to do), where the set up for that has been done from the start with Google+

    9. Re:Done With That by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 1

      You really have to wonder what they are thinking... being able to see who is on a list could break the social fabric.

      Think about it.. facebook is all about connections. We know that we're not all equal. Facebook puts us on an 'equal' ground.. but here is something which upsets the balance.

      I wonder how many people will have to leave FB for them to delete this new anti-privacy feature

      --
      You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
  4. Sooo? by happylight · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When you unfriend someone all they have to do is look at their friends list and see you missing to deduce that you've unfriended them.

    It's not like some big secret. People can already easily find out.

    1. Re:Sooo? by somersault · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's like saying you can easily find that you've lost something by taking a full inventory of your house each week. If you don't suspect something has gone missing, why would you be checking/making the list?

      --
      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:Sooo? by blackest_k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      sometimes friends go missing for a while and pop back up, sometimes its because they want to get away from facebook sometimes it is just random. it used to bother me when friends came and went, you always think it's something you did. After a while you realise that you have just drifted apart so far there is only memories in common.

      it's almost as bad as friends reunited, which is more people who used to go to the same places as me years ago.

      --
      Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
    3. Re:Sooo? by mattventura · · Score: 1

      Except that taking inventory takes a while whereas your friends like can be copied and pasted or even monitored by a script. The point is that that information was already available to you if you kept track of your friends list.

    4. Re:Sooo? by somersault · · Score: 1

      Well duh, but why should everyone have to do that for every site they use? It's as bad as manually keeping track of your household items. And while I personally did consider writing a script for keeping track of FB friends before, what % of FB users do you think could actually do that? Do /.ers really have to whine about interface functionality being improved?

      --
      which is totally what she said
    5. Re:Sooo? by Cerium · · Score: 1

      Why is it important to know who "unfriended" you?

    6. Re:Sooo? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
      I just read what you wrote, and now I understand why FB is an absolute waste of time.

      But you should check with your friends to see how they feel about how you feel about how they feel about that.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:Sooo? by bitt3n · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's like saying you can easily find that you've lost something by taking a full inventory of your house each week. If you don't suspect something has gone missing, why would you be checking/making the list?

      because the bar doesn't open till noon

      --
      how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
    8. Re:Sooo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Protip: If you donâ(TM)t even notice your "friend" is gone, then he wasn't a friend to begin with!
      And if you cared about that person that little, then does it even matter if he's gone?

      No, those 200 people in your list are not friends. They barely qualify as aquaintances.
      Real true friends... those that you see every 2-3 days... are only two or three of those.
      Aquaintace-like "friends"... that you see maybe once a week... are perhaps 10+.
      Everyone else... pfff... you wouldn't even notice they're gone.
      (Yes, those numbers are from studies and statistics, and they are limited by the amount of time/energy/interest people have.)

    9. Re:Sooo? by Nursie · · Score: 2

      I agree that if you don't notice someone is gone then they weren't a friend to begin with.

      The rest is drivel though. Social networking itself has made it easier to have continued involvement in each others' lives when geographically disparate.

      Yes, you could call, write or email. But people don't do that to tell you they just stubbed their toe, or found a great new band, or are redecorating the kitchen, and it's precisely these trivia that keep people involved and keep friendships going.

      And if you think a true friend is someone you see every 2-3 days then I would suggest that you're in for a shock when you graduate college.

    10. Re:Sooo? by Nerzhul · · Score: 1

      I couldn't agree more.

    11. Re:Sooo? by vlm · · Score: 1

      Why is it important to know who "unfriended" you?

      Think of professional paid astroturfers who are paid by the quantity of followers. Number stops dropping, time to put up a newer, hotter .jpg, etc.

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    12. Re:Sooo? by lennier · · Score: 1

      +a million.

      Facebook isn't necessarily the best implementation of social networking, but it's the best we have at the moment, and it's made my life significantly richer. I'm 40, and I've been able to reconnect with hundreds of friends who have drifted through my life over the past two decades. And yes, it's the little trivia updates which are the glue that hold that connection together. You might think hearing about a friend's cat or their five-year-old's new word is the most boring thing imaginable - but actually, it's all those little moments that real friendships are made up of. Of course if you don't want to hear about their cat and their five-year-old, they probably aren't that much of a friend, so feel free to unfriend them. For the rest of us, that stuff is precisely why we stick around.

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
  5. Yet Another Erosion Of Privacy by FSWKU · · Score: 1

    Every time they act like they're adding more privacy controls, along comes yet another feature that makes it that much more difficult to control who sees what. The annoying ticker on the right was bad enough, but now being able to see who's unfriended you at any point? I expect this will start a LOT of drama over "OMFG Y U UNFRIEND ME!??!?!?" type stuff from people who normally wouldn't give a crap. Most likely it will be the "friend-whores" who just collect friends to have a higher number. One drops and they have no idea who it was. But now they'll be able to see who decreased their precious friend count, and start all kinds of crap over it.

    --
    "So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
    1. Re:Yet Another Erosion Of Privacy by Tatarize · · Score: 2

      Protecting the privacy of some hasbeen jackass who dumped me. Pah.

      --

      It is no longer uncommon to be uncommon.
    2. Re:Yet Another Erosion Of Privacy by That+Guy+From+Mrktng · · Score: 2

      and start all kinds of crap over it.

      That would make this people spend more time in FB ergo more page views for Facebook's ads: they don't just annoy you, the do the annoyance/profit ratio calculations and the later probably is 70% of the priority.

    3. Re:Yet Another Erosion Of Privacy by obarthelemy · · Score: 1

      FB is for 12 yo girls. Isn't the "unfriend" drama part of the attraction ?

      --
      The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
  6. which is awesome. by MrCrassic · · Score: 1

    Now Facebook is even more like real life!

  7. Jaded by fluinduced · · Score: 1

    Most people who aren't grandparents or under 18 are pretty sick of Facebook by now aren't they?

  8. A Detailed explanations how to find it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Here's a first explanation on net, how to find it. http://www.techgineering.org/2011/09/23/2548/how-to-check-who-has-unfriend-you/

  9. Bad move by MM-tng · · Score: 1

    Now you can never unfriend anybody ever again unless you got in a serious argument with this person.

  10. doesn't work any more. by dirtyhippie · · Score: 4, Informative

    i just tried it. i even gave fb my phone number to do it. There was someone i know who unfriended me in 2009 (long story!), but after following all the steps, they don't show in any of the boxes. My guess is FB changed the UI to have the box show friends made that year *that are still friends* recently. Nothing to see here (anymore), move along.

    1. Re:doesn't work any more. by darkjohnson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, it appears FB 'fixed' this already - there is a note about it on the original 'how to' page.

    2. Re:doesn't work any more. by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 1

      Eh, so Facebook knows more about YOUR social circle than YOU do (e.g. they know who unfriended you, you don't...).

      --

      "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    3. Re:doesn't work any more. by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 1

      And I bet this is how Facebook found out about it:

      I’ve asked Facebook about this little tidbit and will update this article if I hear back.

    4. Re:doesn't work any more. by me+at+werk · · Score: 1

      You're correct, I looked the first day it was there and saw "added 50 something friends", looked and several had "add to friends" boxes, so I knew they'd unfriended me or whatever. They are no longer there.

      --
      For context, click Parent.
  11. social networks.... by CopingStrategy · · Score: 1

    creating anti-social behaviour? in extremis: i cannot wait for the first news item of murder committed because of an unfriend.... though i have recently culled around 50 people from fac*b**k who are either so inane as to annoy me, or whose prejudice has started seeping through in their posts... hence i expect some real life drama if these people are insecure enough to check that kind of thing...

  12. THIS HAS BEEN FIXED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Slashdot, please check these stories before you post them. I know this is blowing up on other 'lamestream' news sites, but the hole has already been patched. I tried about an hour after this was made public and it does not show up anymore.

    1. Re:THIS HAS BEEN FIXED by guzziguy · · Score: 1

      Yep... there are people that I know unfriended me, but they don't show up at all in the timeline for me. Seems like maybe they did fix it.

  13. This isn't new... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have had a userscript do this for me for quite some time.
    http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/58852

  14. Wasn't your friend in the first place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you cannot tell by looking at your friends list whom has dropped you as a friend. You weren't really friends with that person anyways.

    I find people who have 300-400 "friends" rather ridiculous, they need to have an "I met this person once" list instead of a friends list.

    1. Re:Wasn't your friend in the first place by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

      They now do now make a difference between "close friends" and just "friends"...

    2. Re:Wasn't your friend in the first place by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Which in itself is another social - stress-or. Everybody has "close" friends and every on in a social group can usually tell who each others best friends are. You are kinda in a person's top three and they are almost always in yours or you are not.

      Its always pretty clear and there is really no way to conceal it. Its tolerated we all understand we can't all be each others best friends. Beyond that I think its really rather impolite to rank and classify your "friends". I think I generally have a pretty thick skin but I certainly would not feel good about X effectively making a public announcement that I mean less to him or her than Y. I would not want to make such an announcement about X or Y myself.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    3. Re:Wasn't your friend in the first place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The obvious engineering solution is to replace the close/distant friend dichotomy with a sliding scale from 0 to 100.

      Now imagine how much arguments and hurt feelings THAT could generate... "I thought we were at least 75 % friends but you put me at 62 %, how dare you"

    4. Re:Wasn't your friend in the first place by blue_teeth · · Score: 1

      This pseudo-friendship is more of a passing fancy.

      “Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.”
      --Richard Bach

  15. And this is a problem because? by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 2

    Seriously, is there a problem with this feature?

    1. Re:And this is a problem because? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      No problem. In fact the steps were not reproducible. Sounds like ZDNet is whoring for website hits.

  16. Re:This could suck by quickgold192 · · Score: 1

    What number is that?

  17. How to find any person that has ever unfriended yo by mattventura · · Score: 1

    1. Use some search filters to find all those emails about friend requests
    2. Make a script that pulls the name of the person from the emails
    3. Compare to current friends list

  18. Mandatory Munroe Mention by KingAlanI · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/276/

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
  19. Aha! by KingAlanI · · Score: 3, Funny

    So that's what happened to the person who did not Like my social and political commentary...
    I thought so, would like clear indicators

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    1. Re:Aha! by obarthelemy · · Score: 1

      Wrong. You're too boring, t'is all.

      --
      The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
  20. Facedeath by Cylix · · Score: 1

    I twiddled some bits on my timeline entry and set the year to 2099.

    It showed all of my future friends, unfriends, posts and messages.

    Unfortunately, it also ended in 22 days with my obituary being posted by friends.

    I'm not one to focus on the negatives and now I can focus on tweaking a few posts for maximum content prior to my untimely demise. (I'll probably just copy and paste)

    --
    "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  21. Re:Facebook is a waste of time by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

    I hate facebook and have never owned one and it's evil and I'm way too good to ever be on a social network so this story is worthless. They changed shit, now they're even more evil. I'm better than all you people who are on facebook, you just go on there to feel good about yourselves.

    I'd love to own a facebook, because if I did, I'd be rich. :-)
    However I don't have, don't need and don't want a profile on the existing facebook.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  22. Re:This could suck by markass530 · · Score: 1

    100 ish

  23. from a loser on facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As a guy, mid 20s, who lives above his mom's garage...I can have no interest in facebook. Oh, great, look at that, I can spend all of the time I would be working (but can't because no one's hiring) on facebook learning about how much better everyone else's lives are.

  24. Re:This could suck by cosm · · Score: 2

    I unfriend people all the time, to keep my friends list at the right number.

    Over 9000?

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  25. You can already do this... by Stenchwarrior · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...with a script for Greasemonkey called Unfriend Finder. You have to install Greasemonkey addon for Firefox first.

    --
    Loading...
    1. Re:You can already do this... by cfryback · · Score: 1

      ...with a script for Greasemonkey called Unfriend Finder. You have to install Greasemonkey addon for Firefox first.

      +1000 been using for two years now, I guess they want to make it for the ~85% of people on IE6....

    2. Re:You can already do this... by me+at+werk · · Score: 1

      I think the issue with that is, it is only unfriends going forward, not historical like the timeline (did) show.

      --
      For context, click Parent.
    3. Re:You can already do this... by TheoMurpse · · Score: 1

      Are you aware that "going forward" has been a part of the English language for over two hundred years?

  26. People do not actually care by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Most people do not actually care. They love being able to follow what all their friends, acquaintances, and former boyfriends and girlfriends are doing. They love the idea that other people are following what they are doing. If people really cared about their privacy, they would ditch Facebook entirely.

    --
    Palm trees and 8
  27. BetterFacebook by thomp · · Score: 3, Informative

    Get BetterFacebook for your browser. You can see all kinds of activity that FB doesn't show you.

    Also, you can already make lists of people in Facebook, so you can separate your close friends from your not-so-close friends.

    --
    .sig
  28. Re:First post! by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

    Actually, I would be the first, but it was a complex number so it didn't count. Next time I'll stick to ordered fields, I suppose.

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  29. Re:This could suck by asdf7890 · · Score: 1

    42.

  30. Only "unfriended" once by CoolCalmChris · · Score: 1

    And since they were a jackass anyway I don't feel like it was a bad thing.

    Beyond that, Facebook seems to be relying on the "more bells and whistles" approach...and if you're like me and crave simplicity, it's not helping.

  31. Re:How to find any person that has ever unfriended by S.O.B. · · Score: 1

    4. Stop measuring your self worth by the size of your "friends list".
    5. Get a life.

    --
    Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
  32. Re:How to find any person that has ever unfriended by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    6. ???
    7. Profit!

  33. Simple solution by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Don't befriend them to begin with. You are awfully disparaging about these fried-whores but why did you befriend them to begin with and now want to unfriend them?

    I think the drama starts closer at home for you.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Simple solution by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      You are awfully disparaging about these fried-whores...

      Mmmm... fried whores.... tasty. :P

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
  34. relationship by uniquegeek · · Score: 1

    "Unfriending" is directly proportional to the amount you soapbox and/or complain (among other things).

    However, there's plenty of people that I don't unfriend, but their facebook attitude makes me hide them from my feed within one or two days!

  35. Re:This could suck by markass530 · · Score: 1

    do you suck at math or something? How would unfriending people (Subtraction) keep a Number Over something?

  36. Couldnt it cause "social discourse" and affect FB? by adumonit · · Score: 1

    Wouldnt introducing such a feature affect them indirectly? By creating "enemies"? Sure, you can figure if a real friend unfriended you when you think of getting in touch with him/her...but what about those ones who may not really be close friends but would cause a "pinch" in the heart for unfriending. Sure, you may not give a damn... but its human to be left bothered about it. I've always thought FB does not yield to long requested idea of an "Unlike" button cause they no animosity could cause disintegration of the network. Wouldnt showing such info start this kind of animosity and perhaps leave a sour taste for FB eventually? Just thinking

  37. Re:Couldnt it cause "social discourse" and affect by adumonit · · Score: 1

    *"...know animosity could cause disintegration..."