What Happens When You Unfriend Someone on Facebook?

Have you got a Facebook friend who consistently fills your feed with pointless or inflammatory posts?

Perhaps it’s someone who you no longer interact or engage with in person, or who you have grown apart from and no longer wish to associate with?

Whatever your reasons for wanting to unfriend someone, we often find that Facebook users are held back by an uncertainty around what happens – and perhaps most importantly, whether the other user is made aware of your action?

With that in mind, we thought it was time to provide a very clear and concise answer to the question: what happens when you unfriend someone on Facebook?

What Happens on Your Screen?

When you choose to unfriend someone, you will be asked to confirm the action on your screen.

You will then immediately see the box that reads ‘Friends’ on their profile, indicating that you are friends, will change to ‘Add Friend’ as your relationship on the platform is reset.

Once you are no longer friends on Facebook, their posts will not appear in your feed and your posts and updates will no longer appear in their feed. Depending on the privacy status of each of your profiles, you may find that you can no longer see any personal information or updates on their profile – and vice versa, if your profile is locked to non-friends.

At the click of a button, a lot changes when you unfriend someone. But do they get notified about the change?

Do They Find Out?

The individual who you chose to unfriend will not receive any update telling them that you two are no longer friends.

The only way that they will find out is if they notice your absence on their feed and search for your profile. If you have successfully unfriended them, then they will see the ‘Add Friend’ button on your profile which informs them that the two of you are no longer Facebook friends.

They could also find out by trying to message you on Messenger but finding the action blocked (if your account is set to Private), or if they notice that you are no longer friends via an interaction on a mutual friends’ post.

How to Unfriend Someone on Facebook

Now that you know the coast is clear for unfriending, and that you won’t immediately offend anyone by taking this action (at least, not until they notice your absence!), how exactly do you unfriend them?

1. Visit the profile of the individual who you want to unfriend
2. Click on the button that reads ‘Friends’ under their profile picture
3. Select ‘Unfriend’
4. Confirm the action using the pop up box

And voila! Your Facebook experience is now free from their updates and posts. We hope this helps!