A recent survey conducted by Christopher Sibona and Steven Walczak from the University of Colorado has concluded that Facebook users are more inclined to unfriend someone online than in real life. According to the study of 1,500 social media users, 57% have deleted Facebook friends in the past for online behaviour, while 26.9% have done so for offline reasons.

Here are the top reasons you might find yourself on the receiving end of a Facebook friend freeze:

1.You post status updates too frequently

Whilst you might think updating your status every five minutes is a cute way of keeping your friends informed, they may think otherwise. According to the survey, this is the number one reason your "friends" might decide to unfriend you.

2. You're at different life stages

When something big happens in your life, of course it's something you want to share with the world – but apparently not if it's the only topic you can converse about anymore. "As soon as you have a baby, you become uninteresting," one survey respondent explained.

3. Religion and politics are sensitive topics best avoided at all costs

If your friends find themselves disagreeing with your status posts more often than not, they may decide to block your difference of opinion permanently (at least online!).

4. You've had a falling out in real life

It makes sense that if you no longer speak in real life, you won't be Facebook buddies. Still, hitting the delete button in this case brings a finality to the friendship, notes Sibona, who says, "when a person indicates that they unfriended someone for offline reasons, they experience a larger change in that relationship compared to those who select online reasons for unfriending."

5. You don't dislike them, but you don't see them anymore

They may be long-lost travel buddies you haven't seen in five years, or the acquaintance you swore you'd get to know better but never did. Whatever the case, there's probably no real reason to maintain contact anymore.

In addition to the above, the survey also found that that those who send out friend requests are more likely to be unfriended than those on the receiving side.

"One of the interesting things about unfriending is that most real-world friendships either blow up or fade away," says Sibona. "But on Facebook, users actively make the decision to unfriend, and people often don't know why or what's happened in the relationship."

Do you agree with the results of this survey? Under what circumstances would you unfriend someone?

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