> I remember reading about someone advocating for an app to make unfollowing easy
It's not actually hard to unfollow people on most platforms, though.
Twitter shows the Unfollow button when I hover over someone's name in my feed. It's one click to unfollow and I don't even have to leave the page to do it.
I think the real problem is a type of FOMO: People are afraid to remove any connections they've established, lest they miss something important.
That sounds like a bad idea. We want to keep our connections and not be unfriended by the machine.
Instead of fighting human psychology the apps should sidestep it. How about unsubscribing, but not unfriending? Shadow-unfollowing, settings like the Youtube bell for your content-stream?
I don't care to see your status-updates, but I want you in my friend list - there should be an option for that.
It isn't just FOMO, its that when you unfollow someone it is seen by the other person has a rejection and people are loathe to reject others. Especially if the other person is important to you in any way, that is a problem. Muting is better, because it doesn't let the other person know you aren't following them.
It's not actually hard to unfollow people on most platforms, though.
Twitter shows the Unfollow button when I hover over someone's name in my feed. It's one click to unfollow and I don't even have to leave the page to do it.
I think the real problem is a type of FOMO: People are afraid to remove any connections they've established, lest they miss something important.