Social Network Friends: Quality vs. Quantity
As little kids, quantity beats out quality at almost every turn. If faced with the choice between 10 toys or just one, the little ones will always buy in bulk. As adults, most of us understand that quality wins out every time. Would you rather have five minutes of intense pleasure or 15 minutes of generic sex? Exactly.
Then why do smart, educated, intelligent adults play the social networking numbers game? Including you! The reality is that many of us claim we have an abundance of friends or connections on these Websites. Yet, in real life, the older we get, the fewer friends we have.
If my profile on one of the major social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook) featured only 14 friends, I’d be viewed a loser. And 14 is pushing it, rounded out with cousins of acquaintances of friends.
Isn’t it time for some quality control?
Perhaps there should be a company that randomly contacts your “friends” to find out how much they really know about you. Stuff like your biggest fear; your college major; your mother’s middle name. You know, the things only a real friend would know.
The people who actually have the courage to show their face with only six pals are either silently judged (‘what a loser!’) or forced to set their profile to ‘private.’
For every person out there who doesn’t inflate their number of friends, I salute you. You’re choosing quality over quantity. And you’re exactly the type of person I want to be friends with. How about an add? 
[...] Social Network Friends: Quality vs. Quantity [...]
FreshNetworks Blog » Blog Archive » The nature of online friendships said this on June 3, 2008 6:36 pm
I agree with quality over quantity,
but are you saying that including both friends and some family members – there are only fourteen people in your entire social circle?
I understand that adding someone who you have never met before on myspace is stupid, but I don’t think myspace is the place for just your 5 best friends. One thing I like about myspace is the ability to contact old friends, and just because someone I knew a few years ago doesn’t know my mums middle name – it doesn’t mean that I’ll delete them. The people that I have added on myspace are my closest friends, old friends that I like to keep in touch with, a few family members and people that I regularly see but aren’t necessarily very close to. This leaves me with around 90 friends, and I still know everyone on my contact list well enough to go out and have a drink with them.
I also have to question your so called ‘quality control’ after you have just stated that you would be willing to accept a friend request from someone that you don’t know at all.
janet said this on January 2, 2009 10:23 pm
One of the beauties of social networking is that people can use these sites how they see fit. Personally, I don’t feel the need to assemble all of my friends/family together. However, from a business perspective, I am always interested in meeting new people and adding them as a connection.
Andrew G.R. said this on January 3, 2009 12:11 am