Friends and Facebook

Facebook study reveals users 'trophy friends'
It's hard to make close friends on Facebook, study says

The circle of friends of internet users is expanding vastly, with some acquiring millions of new pals as if they were collecting action figures, stamps or collectables.

However, the overwhelming majority are merely nodding cyberacquaintances and the number of core friends remains mostly unchanged, at only around five people, according to a new survey.

Earlier work by Prof Robin Dunbar at the University of Liverpool showed that most people have an average of 150 people in their social network, with a core of around five close friends, reflecting limitations on the capacity of the human brain.

Another unusual feature of virtual socializing is "defriending" where people are removed from a list of friends, rather than allowed to "fade out", as in real life. One colleague did this because his new friend used poor English, he said.

Despite this extraordinary flux of making and breaking friendships, the actual number of close friends "is approximately the same as in the face to face world," said Dr Reader.

There are "good evolutionary reasons" why this should be. Making friendships means investing time, even money, in another person. To ensure that investment is worthwhile, face to face contact is invaluable, he said. But "it is very easy to be deceptive on the internet."

Of all the sites, the majority - 90 per cent - of close friends have been met face to face. "Face to face contact is a requirement for intimate friendships."

Even so, it's a good way to keep in touch with hundreds of people I have known in my still kinda short life... =P I don't ever add friends whom I don't know. 5 close friends... hmm... I think I have slightly more than that... but I have to say that's a pretty close estimate...

I think this answered my previous question, one simply doesn't have enough capacity in his/her brain to have this many friends. HAHA!!