To friend or to unfriend on the Internet?

The New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen "to unfriend" as word of the year for 2009. It describes the activity of striking someone from one's list of friends on social networks like Facebook or MySpace. Pierre Haski, chief editor of the news blog Rue98, comments: "'Unfriending' is an important function of the social network Facebook, allowing people to remove friends who are now undesired. ... This topic could be debated no end, but it certainly illustrates the place taken by social networks, Facebook at the top of the list, in the lives of millions of people. Over 300 million use Facebook across the world, 13 million in France alone. One could also question the true nature of these virtual 'friends' who can be made - and unmade - with the click of a mouse."

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