Hey, it’s perfectly ok to periodically go through your Facebook friend list and unfriend those you don’t keep in touch with anymore. We all have that random acquaintance who friended us after one brief interaction, or that friend of a friend we vaguely remember. We’re not designed to keep in touch with every single person we’ve met. In a world where we share so much of ourselves online to our “friends,” it is essential to keep an eye on who we’re really sharing with.

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With that said, unfriending is a sensitive issue – but there is a way to do it gently. Read Randi Zuckerberg’s take on the best way to unfriend here.

IF YOU HAVE ONE HOUR

Unfriending Multiple People At Once:

Unfriending people one by one, by navigating to their profile page, takes too much time. A faster way to remove multiple people at once is to go to your friend list in your own profile. Scroll down the list and unfriend those you don’t really know in person (or don’t care to keep in touch with) by placing your cursor on the “Friends” checkbox. A drop-down list will appear, and you can select “unfriend.” Repeat.

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Another fast way to unfriend is to go to your Activity Log on your profile and select “Friends” from the left navigation bar (it may be hidden under “More”). You can scroll down the list and click unfriend.

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IF YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES

Dialing Down Acquaintances

Categorize those you’re not ready to unfriend as “Acquaintances” under your friend lists so that they appear less frequently in your News Feed. This handy tool helps you save time by suggesting friends you haven’t interacted with in a while to add in bulk to your Acquaintances list.

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Unfriending On Birthdays

It might sound cruel, but a lot of people admit to unfriending those who they’ve lost touch with or whose names they don’t recognize when they show up under Birthdays. It only takes a few seconds of your day – and 365 days later, you would have successfully pruned your friend list.

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