- 34% of Brits admitted they have Facebook friends they'd ignore in real life
- Just 10% of an average person's friends list are considered actual friends
- Over half said they are friends with people they don't like to be nosey
- While 26% were worried about the consequences of deleting certain people
- A fifth of participants admitted to having arguments on Facebook
- With 28% claiming the rows were caused by ambiguous or vague statuses
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A third of Britons have admitted they can't delete people they dislike on Facebook - because they're too nosey or worried about the consequences of doing so.
A survey has found the average number of friends on a person's Facebook is 287, yet just 10 per cent of people on these lists are friends the person likes and would want to spend time with socially.
This has led to what the money-saving site has dubbed 'famicable Facebook friends', which stands for 'falsely amicable'.
Research carried out by VoucherCodesPro.co.uk found that 34% of Brits have friends on Facebook they don't like and would avoid in real life. However, more than half admitted they can't delete these people because they want to keep tabs on what they're doing and a quarter are worried about the consequences of deleting them
TOP REASONS FOR KEEPING 'FAMICABLE' FRIENDSHIPS
More than half (58 per cent) said they keep people they didn't like as Facebook friends so they could still see their photos and statuses, and to find out what they are up to.
Just less than half (47 per cent) keep family members and family of loved ones as friends because they feel they have to.
While 36 per cent of people said they keep colleagues or former colleagues as friends in case they need to contact them in the future.
Worryingly, 26 per cent admitted they can't delete these famicable friends because they wouldn't like to face the consequences of deleting them.
Elsewhere, 17 per cent said they keep these friendships because being friends with them allows them to see what others are doing, such as their children or family.
A total of 2,863 adults aged 18 and over with a Facebook page were asked how many friends they currently have on the social networking site.
When asked how many contacts on the site they would consider to be true friends, and would regularly spend time with in a social capacity, respondents stated an average of just 31.
The participants were then asked if they were friends with anyone on their profile they disliked, and who they would go out of their way to avoid in real life.
More than a third - 34 per cent - of people admitted this was the case and confessed they have an average of nine people on their Facebook page that match this criteria.
More than half (58 per cent) said they keep people they didn't like as Facebook friends so they could still see their photos and statuses, and to find out what they are up to.
Just under half (47 per cent) keep family members and family of loved ones as friends because they feel they have to, the poll for
VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, found.
While 36 per cent of people said they keep colleagues or former colleagues as friends in case they need to contact them in the future.
Worryingly, 26 per cent admitted they can't delete these famicable friends because they wouldn't like to face the consequences of deleting them.
Just under half (47 per cent) keep family members as Facebook friends because they feel they have to, while 36 per cent of people admitted they keep colleagues, as well as former colleagues as friends in case they need to contact them in the future
Elsewhere, 17 per cent said they keep such friendships because being friends with them allows them to see what others are doing, such as their children or family.
George Charles, marketing director of VoucherCodesPro, said: 'It seems with the results of this study, the old saying about keeping your friends close, but your enemies even closer, is definitely alive and well even in today's society with our reliance on the internet.'
When asked if they had ever been involved in an argument that had taken place on Facebook, 22 per cent admitted that they had.
When asked what had caused the row, 'a vague status I thought had been aimed at me' was the main cause in 28 per cent of cases.
'What with the extensive amount of information we are all now sharing on our social media pages, and the overwhelming need to see what everyone is up to, it really is no wonder that so many of the respondents in the study confessed that they have 'famicable facebook friends.,'' continued Charles.
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