Last updated at 11:17, Friday, 22 February 2013

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We’ve all seen them, we all have them, we all roll our eyes at them. If you’re on Facebook, you have at least one or maybe several friends who have such annoying social media habits that you wish you could slap them with an online ‘time out’.

Of course, there are options to mute friends or hide their posts but how will they know how annoying they are? This is where Defriendtion comes in. This cheeky little free app allows you to issue your irritating Facebook friends with a post which calls them out on their behaviour and lets them know how long you’re going to put them on time out.

We’ll let Chris Heller, the app creator, explain it in more detail:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RfzoxkBjupI

Need our top 5 Facebook status update pet peeves that require a defriendtion? We thought you would never ask!

1: One word followed by a triple dot

“Damn…”

“Whaaa…”

“Sad…”

“Interesting…”

The one-word, triple dot status update is the signature mark of a person who desperately craves attention and recognition. That little leading word is just begging for someone to post a “what’s up, hun?” kind of reply.

Shakespeare said that brevity is the soul of wit, but this is too much! If the event is significant enough then give us more than one word. That triple dot doesn’t make it intriguing, it’s just annoying.

2: Posting while driving

“There’s so many bad drivers out today!”

“Man, this traffic is killing me!”

Seriously, how can you be messing around with your smartphone while controlling the most lethal object that most of us will ever own? There’s a reason that this kind of behaviour is illegal, it’s not just criminally annoying, it’s also incredibly dangerous.

3: Boooored!

“So bored”

“Nothing goin’ on”

If the best thing you can think to do is post on Facebook how nothing is happening then you deserve to be bored. You’re sat right in front of a machine that lets you access the greatest educational tool mankind has ever created! Search Google to find out how black holes are formed or what the most poisonous animal on Earth is!

Alternatively, you could always go outside?

4: Lovey-dovey Vom-fests

“Just gotta tell the world how much I love my snuggle-bum McGorgeous Face!”

“Before you came along, I was walking around in a daze, now I’m walking on air.”

By all means inflict this kind of nauseating mush on people who are within earshot. Don’t subject the online population to it.

5: Unintentional Irony

“I just think it’s sad that there’s people suffering right now in Haiti and some people just talk about it on Facebook.”

“Don’t call people out over Facebook. Say it to my face!”

Have a think before you post. Are you about to eat a big slice of irony cake? Maybe rethink that little zinger you’ve been saving up!

Until Facebook developers a “dislike” button, apps like Chris Heller’s Defriendtion are the way to give your friends a playful slap on the wrist. Innovative apps like this are growing in popularity as a report from last year estimated that almost 20 million are downloaded on a daily basis, providing opportunities for developer jobs as the app industry becomes ever more refined.

First published at 10:45, Friday, 18 January 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk