Jimmy Kimmel of late-night talk show fame (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) has been running a bit of a campaign in the past few weeks that culminates today. His plan states that he wants to make today a new holiday titled “National UnFriend Day”. He wants people to sign onto Facebook and review their friends and remove anybody that they don’t really know.
National UnFriend Day might be a bit of a gimmick but it makes a bit of sense. First and foremost, it reclaims the term friend to have an actual meaning. Just because you went to middle school together and haven’t talked since doesn’t mean you automatically have to be friends on the Internet. There are acquaintances and colleagues for those people that you don’t discuss anything deeper than the weather.
The second effect of National UnFriend Day is that it will affect the Facebook company. Having more friends on Facebook gives individuals more influence, which allows more people to be reached and how likely a reaction is to occur (Heck, there is even an organization devoted to measuring that influence with Klout.com!). More connections also allow Facebook to further analyze and understand individuals, making the data they sell to advertisers more valuable.
Jimmy Kimmel has declared a new holiday on November 17th – National UnFriend Day. NUD is the international day when all Facebook users shall protect the sacred nature of friendship by cutting out any ‘friend fat’ on their pages occupied by people who are not truly their friends. Get ready to unfriend!
I know some of you may be thinking, “yeah, you know, this guy I was lab partner with in high school is annoying, but why bother? I’ll just let it slide and ignore him.”
Well, you know who they said the same thing about? A guy named Hitler. Look it up.
Will you be participating? Do you agree or disagree with the need for a National UnFriend Day? Is there more drama in unfriending somebody rather than not accepting their invitation?