According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, “UnFriend” is the word of the year for 2009. And I am going to need to use it this year.

With the growth of social networking, I am finding it increasingly difficult to separate business connections and personal connections. As social networking continues to grow, I’m sure many of you are facing (or has already faced) the same dilemma.

Initially, I used to get many “friend” requests from old friends and lost contacts. However, as I’ve been increasing my online presence through blogging and “Twittering”, I’ve been seeing more and more friend requests from people I don’t know personally.

For the record – I think this is a GREAT thing as I really like connecting with new people. I’ve created great friendships and found great business partners with people I have never met physically. But at the same time, I’m now finding it difficult to see the feeds and updates of my “real” friends as opposed to my virtual friends on Facebook.

You see, I used to add all Facebook friend requests (except for the obvious spammers) but I would use the “Limited Profile” feature for people that I have not met in person. But now, as I am approaching 1,000 friends on Facebook, this method is no longer feasible.

This has led me to the “Great UnFriend” exercise for 2010. I need to set some guidelines for who I add as a friend and how to manage other virtual connections. I also need to remove contacts that were previously added that do not meet these guidelines.

I apologize if this affects you. Its nothing personal, I still want to connect with you but in way that is more practical. I’m sure many people can relate to this exercise as quite a necessity.

Here’s what I’ve come up with…

Connect Rules for Facebook and LinkedIn – I will only add people with whom:

1. I have met personally
2. I have communicated with on Skype or email
3. I have been introduced to or is recommended by an existing friend

For all other requests, we can still connect:

1. On Twitter – http://twitter.com/brianwong
2. On Facebook Public Page – http://facebook.brianwong.com
3. On my Blog by subscribing and commenting at http://brianwong.com/blog

Do you have rules and guidelines for who you add as friends on Facebook?

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