Facebook Friends?!?

[Fiona H]

First off, it's facebook! It doesn't really reflect real life! We all like it because it's nice to see the connections between people you know, and contact and reminisce with people from way-back-when, but having 400 friends on facebook is no guarantee that you're the sort of person who always has something to do on a Saturday night with real-life, real-time friends..

Aside from that, it probably depends on your age and other factors, such as where you work, how IT literate you and your friends are, how big a company you work for, how much you've travelled or switched jobs etc. I have about 60 - 70 (in my 30's) but the majority of the people I meet and socialise with on a regular basis have never indulged so it's not really representative.

A lot of my current facebook friends are roughly the same age as me and have similar numbers, give or take 5 or 10: a typical mix of old school friends, university friends and work friends with additional people I know through people or through my husband. I'd imagine that's typical for people like me: working in a small setting, more of a small group person vs a party animal. The people I know who are party-hearty types tend to have more; there are a few who are quite introverted with 5 - 10.. but the people who are most socially active and 'popular' often have.. well.. none. Because they are out living their lives, not uploading 500+ pictures of themselves in every pose possible or playing scrabulous at 2am!

I think facebook is probably in decline and I think the kind of social anxiety it has the potential to create about 'popularity' (not to mention the negative effects of nasty gossip/potential for employers to view dodgy photos and details you'd rather not share) may cause a lot of it!

It's just a toy for grown ups. Try not to take it too seriously!
It really really really doesn't mean ANYTHING. If someone close to you died tomorrow, would you rush to facebook to write 'XXXXX is glad of the kleenex, having cried bucket loads today. It was worse than watching Beaches!'

Thought not...