Being unfriended on Facebook: An application of Expectancy Violation Theory

This study considered being unfriended on Facebook as an expectancy violation that could vary in valence, importance, and expectedness according to a number of relationship and Facebook involvement characteristics. Facebook users who had been unfriended responded to a variety of quantitative scales via an online survey. Being unfriended constituted a moderately expected and negative, and moderately-to-highly important, expectancy violation. Whether ties with the unfriender were close versus weak best predicted valence and importance and the extent to which the unfriended individual used Facebook to connect with existing contacts best explained violation expectedness. Violation importance also predicted whether or not the unfriended individual contacted the former friend about being unfriended. Results supported Expectancy Violation Theory and extended knowledge about Facebook unfriending.