You’ve heard the saying, “Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.”   Well, the picture to the left proves that they really will make a t-shirt about anything.

Last month, Oxford University Press announced “unfriend” as their 2009 Word of the Year (I found it humorous that as I was typing that sentence my spell check flagged unfriend so I had to add it).

Last week, I unfriended 90% of my Facebook friends on my public profile.  There were some that simply needed it because they were sending me 10 or more emails a week about their network marketing event.  Others kept inviting me to join there fan pages, groups, or causes – not just occasionally, but 10 a week.  That’s 520 causes a year – i don’t think I can care that much!

For the most part though, they were people I simply did not know and with whom I had no interaction.  That got me thinking.  Why do I have a fan page or a public profile at all?

Facebook is My Favorite Social Media Platform

I love Facebook.  I talk to childhood friends that I hadn’t thought about, let alone talked to, in over two decades.  We are all busy, and it is hard to keep up with all of our relationships the way we would like.

In fact, if you don’t post a Facebook update then I probably won’t know what is happening in your life.  It sounds weird, but Facebook actually makes me a more caring person.

It reminds me of birthdays so I never forget to call and wish a friend Happy Birthday on their wall.  I see pictures of former co-worker’s kids and pets that I never saw when I worked with them.

For all the claims of narcissism leveled against Facebook users, I think it does bring people closer together.  This was my intent when I signed up for a public profile, and created a fan page when I found out that you were limited to 5,000 friends.

My Facebook Public Profile

The weird thing was that I wasn’t using my public profile page to better communicate with my readers.  I was adding anyone who sent me a friend request thinking that I needed as many friends as possible to make my blog posts go viral on Facebook.

The problem was that I didn’t know any of these people, so I wasn’t sharing any information about myself.  My wall became just another stop I made submitting my blog posts for the link and hopefully a little traffic.

I had become a spammer!  It changed the whole way I looked at Facebook.  I hadn’t even logged into my personal profile in over 3 weeks and was feeling completely out of the loop.  This is when I decided to unfriend over 90% of my Facebook friends and start over.

Yes, I want to share all of my blog posts on Facebook.  I also want to be able to get to know my blog community better and for them to learn more about me.

Now that I know all of my friends again, I have started sharing more information and sharing the events in their lives.  My rule now is that I would love to have many more friends, but I require some form of interaction prior to accepting a friend request.

Why Do I Have a Fan Page?

The fan page for The Christian Entrepreneur was in very much the same boat.  Other than getting your Facebook profile pictured on my sidebar widget, there really was no reason to become a fan.

You might have noticed that my featured video box is gone from the sidebar.  What I have decided to do is to share most of my videos through the fan page.

I will also be using my fan page to make announcements, introduce you to new bloggers or resources, and trying to add more value to being a fan.

If you like the content that we provide on this page then I think you will like my plans for the fan page.

I will also be relying on it more for micro blogging; especially, when I need input from my blog community.

So There You Have It

If you were one of the people that were unfriended, please know that it was nothing personal.  If I accidentally unfriended you please let me know.  I only know some of you by user names so I could have made a mistake.

If you want to learn more about me and develop an online friendship, please send me a friend request to Become My Facebook Friend.  If you like the content provided on this site, won’t you please Become a Fan of The Christian Entrepreneur?