Comments on: Facebook will increase your network, but not your friends

By: J. S. Cynthia

J. S. Cynthia — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:18:59 +0000

Maybe the older you are the more you are restricted in thinking about what you want in the way of friends. Maybe older (pre-digital) people can’t figure out how to deal with friends of more than 10. For the digital age, maybe these people don’t need to speak or interact in person to feel a friendship exisits. Bill Clinton says the 21st centruy is the interdependent century. Maybe everyone needs to be friend, or no one. Maybe “friends” is an old concept, outdated.

By: Graeme Cartwright

Graeme Cartwright — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:17:51 +0000

We all know that comunication is the key to any relationship. I dont think Facebook or myspace ever claimed to increase peoples friends as such. They provide a platform for networking, the rest is up to you. It comes down to a more personal question of what the individual is trying to achieve by using these sites. Sure, someone may have 150 friends, but at this time in the world who could maintain 150 friendships at a close & personal level. These sites remind me of walking down the hallway in highschool. Hey I know that guy & that girl, but are they really my close friends? No. Are they aquaintences? Yes. But moreover, at least the platform is provided to sort of ‘check in’ & see what people are up to nowadays. Im sure so many people have wondered what had happened to so many people after dispersing into the ‘real world’, and now all of a sudden its at our fingertips. Kind of like a digital peeping tom if you will. Now that sounds pretty fuct up, but it just goes to show the laziness of us as humans in this day and age. In one hand, its a very old way to communicate – by writing. But in the other hand the principals of that have been taken advantage of & left us where we are today. Like a bunch of weak fiending cyber zombies that become glued to our computer screens in a fantasy world all its own, until we actually decide to wake up & reach out through the strength of communication.

By: Katrina

Katrina — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:14:34 +0000

From personal experience I would have to somewhat agree that social networking will add to your list of aquaintances. However, I have found online relationships can actually extend into real life and social networks can help you develop deeper friendships.
The advantage of social networking sites make it easier to keep in touch with more people with less effort. So in essence people are getting lazier in actually trying to develop and maintain friendships.

By: David Karpin

David Karpin — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:10:12 +0000

It’s true that real friends are found only on the real world, but I fell that once you’ve made a friend, keeping in touch will him through a social network site is easy and gives another aspect to the relationship.
It will be interesting to read the research paper. I haven’t been able to find it on-line too. If someone knows to locate it, I’ll be happy to know.

By: Kevin Gamble

Kevin Gamble — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:06:55 +0000

The research just confirms what we have known for a very long time. Our ability to handle a certain number of close friendships is baked-in. The tools used to communicate with those friends doesn’t matter.