It started as a phishing scam or other malware, at least for me, when I was offered an app to let me see who had unfriended me on Facebook.  The solicitations looked scammy, and I ignored them.  I found out the other day that there IS a Facebook Unfriend Finder app.  The app’s page  has about 10,500 Likes, and from my testing, the app does what it says – lets you know when someone unfriends you (it also advises you when one of your friends closes his/her FB account).  Could this little app change the way we  use Facebook?

Enter the therapist

How does it make you feel when someone unfriends you on Facebook?  If it’s someone you hardly know or don’t know, your response is probably meh.  But what if it’s a close business associate, or long time real life friend?  What feelings, what pain, what anger wells up at the thought of someone you love, or someone you have been quietly stalking on Facebook, suddenly turning off that friendship?

[stextbox id=”black” image=”null”]Don’t murder me, I beg of you, dont murder me. Please, dont murder me.~Grateful Dead[/stextbox]

We probably all have a few weirdos, trolls and stalkers on our friends list.  I know that from now on I will carefully consider the implications of  the Unfriend Finder app  before making the decision to unfriend.    I will assume that everyone is using the app.  I may come face to face with them be  confronted.   At a meeting the other day I sat across the table from someone who had unfriended me that morning.  Our relationship had changed.  It impacted the meeting, and he probably never realized it.  We are seeing more and more  stories of violence and murder over Facebook relationships.  Facebook relationships are being cited in criminal and civil (i.e. divorce) cases.

Do you use the app?  If you didn’t know it was there, will you look it up and installed?  How will you handle being unfriended?  Your comments are welcomed!