'Unfriend' - social profile pruning on the rise

Online reputation management is increasingly important.  A report from the Pew Research Center suggests there is an increase in social media profile ‘pruning' and editing.  Growing numbers are saying that they have deleted ‘friends'; untagged photographs and removed comments left by others.The survey sampled 2,200 US adults, 63% of whom had social media profiles (up from 20% in 2006).  58% have set their profile as ‘private' while 20% say their main profile is completely public.Key findings‘Unfriend'

• 63% have deleted ‘friends' (up from 56% in 2009).
• Women (67%) are much more likely to do this than men (58%).
• Younger people more likely to do this than older users

• 44% have deleted comments made by others on their profile
• 37% have removed their names from photos

• 67% of women restrict access to friends only compared with 48% of men
• Men (26%) more likely to choose fully public profiles than women (14%)
• 48% reported some level of difficulties in managing privacy controls; 30% say they have no difficulty.