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Woman tries to burn down friend's house after she was "unfriended" on Facebook
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
November 7, 2011

Image Facebook used to be about bringing friends together.

Although childhood friends, classmates or even family members are still able to connect via the social site, Facebook has also torn apart a number of relationships.

On Halloween, I had a grown man and so-called “professional” in his field try to start an unfounded “Facebook” fight with me.

He preceded to unfriend me after I gave him a piece of my mind.

I could care less about the unfriending, as his behavior was indicative of someone who did not deserve my Facebook or "real life" friendship, but it just goes to show you how Facebook can turn some people batty.

This news story out of Des Moines is one example of that.

Authorities in Iowa say a 30-year-old woman attempted to burn down a friend’s house last week in retaliation for being unfriended on Facebook.

Jennifer Christine Harris, of Des Moines, is being held in Polk County Prison on $100,000 bond after she allegedly set fire to Jim and Nikki Rasmussen's garage, forcing the couple to flee their home in the middle of the night, the Des Moines Register reports.

Although the siding on the house melted and the garage roof collapsed, the Rasmussens escaped unharmed.

However, the couple only managed to escape the blaze after a loud booming sound woke them up, according to reports.

Law enforcement said investigations showed Harris' motive was connected to an argument she and Nikki had over Facebook.

Jen reportedly ended their friendship on Facebook.

According to a detective working on the case, the former-best friends were planning an event and decided to advertise it on Facebook.

Jen asked Nikki to create an event on Facebook for a party, which Nikki did. As the date for the party approached, however, there were a lot of “declines,” on the party’s Facebook event page.

The more the party started looking like it would end up being a bust.

The more the dispute between the former BFF’s blossomed.

Harris is charged with first degree arson

A lot of people, especially those not on Facebook, may wonder what the big deal is about Facebook and unfriending people.

But unless you are on Facebook, it is something you probably won’t understand.

Facebook is big part of most of our lives.

Between checking tagging photos of yourself and chatting to checking out the updates of your friends’ lives via the mini-feed and finding sources and information for news articles, Facebook is kind of a big deal.

Frankly, unfriending someone via Facebook is the equivalent of telling someone that you think they are annoying or that you dislike them and you no longer care about what is happening in their lives and on the flip side, you no longer want them to know what is going on in your life.

I’ve had to unfriend several people over the years for various reasons.

I’ve even gone as far as putting them on my block list and reporting them to Facebook "authorities", but I would hope nobody would burn down my house in retaliation.

Thoughts?

Have you been unfriended or have you unfriended anybody?