Yes, it is unreasonable to call "encouraging" (your term) "forcing" ("forced" - "obtained or imposed by coercion or physical power" - Google's definition).

[EDIT: to the people downvoting this, the subtleties of language matter. There is a big and specific difference between concepts like "encouraged", "presssured" and "forced"]

"the subtleties of language matter", yet you're the one interpreting language like a robot with a dictionary.

Under the everyday notion of forcing someone to do something, Facebook is not forcing people to friend others.

The definition I cited was for illustration. Since when does backing up you point with a definition mean you're being slavishly robotic?

Since you're trying to imply my usage of the term is narrow and unrealistic, what's the different notion of "forcing" someone to do something that would make it true that Facebook is forcing people to friend others that they otherwise wouldn't want to?

I can't read the commenter's state of mind, but the word "forced" seems to be used colloquially/artfully, to portray what they personally and subjectively experience with Facebook, and not meant necessarily as an objective description of Facebook's feature/UI/UX.

From a Facebook designer's point of view, the UI/UX most surely is intended to be "encouraging". But it may also be the case that for some users, the social dynamic may feel particularly oppressive.

"trying to imply"? Hardly!

I'm explicitly stating.

You hold conversations with people, not dictionaries.

Are you saying that definition is not in line with what that term means in practice? What do you think "forced" means, if something quite different that?

Colloquially 'forced' is often used in a sense weaker than coercion. For example, a train delay might force you to take the bus. A move in Chess can be forced because all alternatives immediately lose. In this weaker sense, it might be taken as "left with no better option".

Yes, to force means to leave no alternative or option, and in this sense Facebook is not forcing those connections, and it's unreasonable to say it is forcing them.

So, in my examples, nothing forces you, in the strictest sense, to take the bus instead of walking. And in Chess nothing forces you in the strictest sense to not make a move that immediately loses.

So perhaps loosen your grip and understand what the OP was saying?