Am I a loser for only have 53 friends on Facebook?

[Survivinglife]

I am an 18 year old male with Asperger's/HFA. I don't have any close friends in real life although I do have people that I talk to every now and then, but never really hang out with them outside of school because I live in a different part of town than the people I actually talk to nowadays. My school had over 2000 people last year and I finished grade 12 (Senior) just this past school year, but I still couldn't manage to bond with people because of my disability.

I have had my Facebook account for 3 in a half months now but I still only have 53 Facebook friends. Of the 53 friends I have on Facebook, I only added about 7 of them. The rest of them added me. I actually do talk to the majority of people on my friends list, and on my birthday which was in early July, at least half (Maybe closer to two thirds even) of the 37 friends I had wished me a happy birthday on my wall.

Still, what is strange is that for somebody like me that only has 53 friends on Facebook, I actually log on and update my statuses frequently. When I log on it is generally to see if I have any new notifications or friend requests though so I am not necessarily one of those who spends 24/7 on Facebook. I also have over 40 photos on Facebook, which actually semes like a lot for somebody who only has 53 friends on Facebook.

I know your advice is going to be that I should add more people, but because of the fact that I have Asperger's and the fact that not many people like me as a result of it, I know that if I add 500 people that I once knew, that not even 50 people will accept my friend request, so what is the point?

I also know that you are going to say that those with hundreds and even thousands of friends on Facebook have no life due to the fact that they may only speak to a handful of them, but it seems like I have no life because ever since Facebook's existence, having hundreds of Facebook friends has been the 'norm'.

I also had an account from 3 years ago and I had about 61 people on there, but I deactivated it quickly because I had a few problems on there. Then, I eventually created a new one this past spring because I felt like a total outcast for not having a Facebook.

Am I honestly a loser for being like this?

[Blue]

=)) fb addict..

[Michael B]

I have 49 friends and I am a loser so don't feel that way people who have tons of contacts don't have real close friends you do just like I do

[RICHARD H]

Listen, the 'friends' thing on facebook is a terrible ploy to get people to believe that if they don't have a lot of friends on there, that they are somehow losers. This isn't exactly true. I know some people that don't even have a Facebook account and trust me, they are not losers. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about quantity as much as quality.

[otherliving]

I think you're LUCKY to only have 53 mate! Would you rather have 500+ friends you have either met once and just vaguely know and would probably only greet once and then they would just sit there in your friend list, or have 53 friends you actually know personally?

When I was new I added all those games like Mafia Wars etc. I had more than 3000 friends for a while, geez... Now I have culled all that rubbish and I am now moving onto trimming off school friends from 20 years back.

I think Facebook is a slowly dying creature anyway...

[Matthew and Renee]

No. You are not a loser. You seem to understand the paradox of facebook perfectly fine so why worry about the number. 1 close friend is better than a 1000 fb friends or acquaintances.

[Emily Smith]

No, you're a loser because you think your friends list online has any relevance what so ever to the life you actually lead - in real life.

[Eleanore Goode]

No! I only have like 30 friends on FaceBook and I'm 13 but I know I'm not a loser! I only add people who I have met in real life and know well.

[Happy Girl 20]

No,not at all! I think that it's very immature to think of the use of Facebook as a popularity contest in order for users to accumulate the most friends than other users. I think that it does n't (and may I add should n't) matter how many friends that Facebook user has. As long as one has the friends on their list that they will actually keep in contact with,and those that they are actually interested in keeping contact with,than that's really all that should matter.

[Peaceful]

nope im 20-and i only have 17(ten of which are family members)