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Someone unfriended you? Time to find out who!

For a brief time during Facebook’s initial Timeline rollout, you could see who unfriended you, and even when, just by clicking on the year and looking in your “friends” box.Though Timeline brought many haters-of-Facebook-change out of the woodwork, this was the one new “feature” they agreed was awesome. Predictably, it didn’t last. Facebook, which prefers that you focus on the positive
Friend or Follow / Today

For a brief time during Facebook’s initial Timeline rollout, you could see who unfriended you, and even when, just by clicking on the year and looking in your “friends” box.

Though Timeline brought many haters-of-Facebook-change out of the woodwork, this was the one new “feature” they agreed was awesome. Predictably, it didn’t last. Facebook, which prefers that you focus on the positive aspects of friendship, “fixed” the problem. And most of us went back to the old way of finding out we’ve been unfriended — stumbling upon rejection via profiles we could no longer access, and other similar disturbances in the force.

You can be proactive in uncovering your rejection however, and not just on Facebook. Tech savvy humans who sympathize with your need to know have made a variety of browser add-ons and other such applications to help you find the people who’ve left you on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Google+ (shut up!).

How easy is it to find out? Depends on the network. Here’s our guide to the apps and hacks that purport to show you who unfriended you. It can be done, in most networks.

Unfriend Finder / Today

Facebook

 Unfriend Finder

While Facebook doesn’t allow any apps that will give you the unhappy news -- those you do see on Facebook are likely scams -- Unfriend Finder is a free browser extension that doesn’t live inside the social network. Once you install it (on Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Safari) and log into Facebook, the Unfriend Finder keeps a tally of your friends. When someone falls away, it will notify you via a red counter and in the menu bar, as well as Facebook notifications.

Unlike the short-lived hole in Facebook Timeline however, Unfriend Finder won’t tell you who ditched you in the past. As I mentioned, it only starts working once you install it in your browser. But it’s not good to live in the past, anyway.

Social Fixer for Facebook

Social Fixer is another browser extension that doesn't work on Internet Explorer, and does work on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Like Unfriend Finder, it'll tell you who gave you the ax. But Social Fixer has a lot of bells and whistles, too. Via the extension, you can hide posts you've already read, add a decorative skin to your profile and rearrange all your Facebook content and how you view it. 

http://twitter.com/unfollowr / Today

Twitter

 Unfollowr

Find out who's grown weary with your 140 missives via the same service you got ditched on. All you have to do is follow @unfollowr on Twitter, and you’ll be notified in your DM (direct message) box every time a follower calls it quits.

Quitter

Unlike Unfollowr, which only requires you to follow its own account, Quitter is an app you must authorize via Twitter. The app then compares your followers on a weekly basis and notifies you via email with the list of all those who left you.

Friend or Follow

One way to get some positive with your negative is by using the app Friend or Follow, which will tell you three things about your tweet life:

Friend or Follow / Today
  • Following: Who you’re following who isn’t following you back
  • Fans: Who’s following you, even though you’re not following them
  • Friends: Who you’re following that follows you back

Pop your Twitter name in the search engine to regularly review the categories — if you see someone new pop up in “Following” who used to be in “Friends,” it could be time to cull the herd yourself.

You can also sort each category by name, location, number of followers and more. If one of your fans is especially popular, maybe it’s time to turn he or she into a friend. (Plus, if it takes a long time for the results to load, theirs an adorable gif of someone petting a bunny!)

Instagram

Statigram / Today

Statigram

There are more than a few Apps that tell you who stopped looking at your old-timey filter photos on Instagram, no matter your phone’s OS. 

The website Statigram, however, doesn’t just tell you who is — or is no longer — following you. It also shows you all your Instagram stats in a handy infographic, including info such as how many photos you’ve posted, how many likes and comments you’ve received, and how many times you’ve used each Instagram filter. Now that’s news you can use!

Pinterest

Followers on Pinterest / Today

Followers on Pinterest

It was only a matter of time before the comparatively new social network inspired its own rejection notification system. Followers on Pinterest — for iPhone and iPad only — does just that, along with providing other useful information that won’t shatter your ego. Other categories of your Pinterest interactions available on the app include followers, recent followers, non-followers, mutual friends and fans. Now don’t you feel better about yourself?  

Google +

G-Minus

G-Minus / Today

Just because you haven’t even checked in on your Google + circles in a while doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t kicked you out of theirs. Find out who with G-Minus, a Chrome browser extension that keeps track of your circles each time you check into Google+. Like Unfriend Finder for Facebook, G-Minus can’t tell you who gave you the boot before you started using the extension, but again, sometimes it’s best not to know.

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Join her, won't you on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.   

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