Today’s post is by guest blogger Jaye Schneider. Jaye is a freelance quality assurance and hi-tech market research professional who owns a consulting shop called QA Ready. If you are a business owner or agency in need of quality assurance strategy and execution, contact Jaye at jaye.schneider {at} qaready.com.

Recently, I found myself a little bit envious of the 20-something set. Not because of their youth, or their ability to be just starting out with their lives, but because for the majority of their lives they have been connected to all of their friends via the Internet. Thinking back on my days at school, camp and college and all the people that I lost touch with before the Internet makes me a bit sad for the connection that I missed.  Browsing some Generation Y’s Facebook and MySpace pages, I realize that they have not lost touch with people, they have them all in their networks and can re-connect at any time.

However, as I joined into this new world of people networking, I realized that when someone does not care for you in this spectrum, there are many ways for them to show it. Prior to these friendship sites, losing touch could become a passive act; not returning e-mails or phone calls.  A person could fall out of contact with a friend or acquaintance and never know if it was lack of time, disinterest, or true dislike that caused the connection to be broken.  The Internet friendship sites take the guesswork out of losing touch; if someone wants you to know who they are and what they are doing, you are their friend, otherwise, you are not.

Let us take Facebook for example.  Recently I heard of a 30-something couple that broke up after a few years of dating.  He still wanted to be friends, she didn’t.  So, how does she make this clear?  She de-friends her ex on Facebook.  Not only is he sad about the demise of their relationship, but she makes it quite evident that he is no longer her friend, her acquaintance or a person that can know what is going on in her life.  This is the most extreme new way to say “I hate you”; taking someone who is your friend and actively erasing them.

Now, let us review a few lesser ways to indicate hatred online.  Ignoring a friend request shows someone that the friend in question has no interest in them and does not want others to associate them as friends.  Blocking a pal on Twitter means that the prior friend does not care what the person is saying and does not want them to access their comments either.  Perhaps the instant-messaging block is the most personal; a person takes a direct connection to them online and completely closes it – what better way to say “I hate you?”

So, what is worse, wondering what happened to that friend you used to do shots with in college or knowing that they are online but want nothing to do with you?  You decide.