I was looking through my Facebook timeline not too long ago (and to be honest I last looked at it a few minutes ago), and I was wondering how many of these people do I actually talk to, or even see anymore. I think I got to something like the 50 mark, maybe a bit more, don’t really want to be seen as someone with no friends. But I know of people who have about 1,000 friends on Facebook and you kind of think how can someones life accommodate that many…and then you release that they probably only see and speak to about 10% of them.
I recently went through all my friends and did a nice cull, which was both satisfying and freed up lots of space on my newsfeed which has been promptly replaced with brands! I did this not to be cruel or horrible, I did it because to be honest if I carried about them I’d probably see or talk to them, but as I don’t why should I still have them on my feed? There are of course people who like to see what their old pals are up to, and I do too, but there’s a limit to the caring. I was quite shocked to look through my friends and think ‘I haven’t even spoken to that person’, but just added them because we had like 900 mutual friends!
In a world of information overload where we have to digest so much in our newsfeeds, we only really have time for family members and close friends that we want to know what they’re up to. Also whenever we meet people at a party or when we’re out and about, gone are the days when we ask for a phone number, it’s more ‘add me Facebook’! But when do you add someone on Facebook? How many times do you have to have seen the person before you do it? Should you add work colleagues? And of course we’ve all done the Facebook stalk of someone. It’s interesting to know what everyones Facebook etiquette is, as we’re all different. One thing I don’t do though is have my parents on Facebook, for me that’s a social media no no! I mean it’s not because I’m doing anything embarrassing (not usually) or bad, but I find it strange to think they’d be stalking me all the time. Plus I speak to them regularly so they know any important ins and outs!
So it’s safe to say that we all have lots of friends, but we don’t necessary see or speak to them all the time. It’ll be interesting to see whether our Facebook friends grow as we meet more people or decline as we cut out people from our social media lives. Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment on your Facebook friend experiences. For more digital news follow this blog or catch me on Twitter @DigitalStuart.
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