Facebook Fallout: Future Contact Avoidance After Being Unfriended on Facebook

Objectives: Determine the factors that predict whether a person who is unfriended on Facebook will avoid future contact with the person who unfriended them. Results: The research results show that six factors can predict whether a person will avoid future contact with the individual who unfriended them: whether the person discussed the event after it occurred, the emotional response to the unfriending, whether the person who was unfriended believed it was related to their offline behavior, the perceived geographical distance between dyad, whether difficulties were discussed between the dyad prior to the event and how the person valued the peak-tie strength of the relationship.