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Oisín · Mar 1, 2009, 08:58 PM

^ Well, she didn’t end up single, he did.

Doofy · Mar 1, 2009, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Oisín

^ Well, she didn’t end up single, he did.

I'm betting his big fat hairy cellmate would argue with you there.

Oisín · Mar 1, 2009, 09:09 PM

Nah, he was more into the whole ‘no strings attached’ thing.

Laminar · Mar 1, 2009, 11:11 PM

So would "It's complicated" have been a better relationship status?

- - e r i k - - · Mar 1, 2009, 11:38 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

So would "It's complicated" have been a better relationship status?

Not anymore.

Person Man · 02:28 PM

It's been interesting for me. I signed up a month ago, primarily to keep up with a group of friends I only get to see personally once a year.

But I've had a few people from high school request to be friends, two of whom have since met with me in real life to catch up on things (alas, my high school class is somewhat apathetic when it comes to reunions), and a few others with whom I've chatted online. A couple of them have even apologized (!) for all the things they used to do to tease me in school. (Being a 1] computer geek, 2] near straight-A student, and 3] having a different name made me a big target growing up). I've built up another small network of people that I used to volunteer with at a local science museum when I was in high school, and ended up finding out about a reunion that they're planning.

I'm certainly not going to correspond with these people daily, and so far none of them has really pelted me with the stupid application stuff, though my brother and I have found new ways to bug each other online now as well as offline.

I've got the security stuff set up such that only really trusted friends and family can see personal details about me. Each category of friends (college, high school, family, close friends, etc) has custom settings. And people have to be friends with me to look at my profile. No friends of friends and nobody in my network that isn't a friend, which tends to greatly reduce the chances of someone seeing something that could hurt me in real life. Thankfully I never did anything really wild and crazy in college (I was kinda boring, actually) that could be posted and tagged back to me.

I'll be very surprised if my list ever tops 100 people.

EDIT: Though I do have one person who has nearly 700 people on her list (being an attractive female computer nerd = tons of followers, apparently). I met her once (she's attended the same function that prompted me to join facebook in the first place) and wasn't going to friend her since I didn't know her all that well. But she's on the lists of the other 12 people I see regularly. I was surprised then, when she ended up friending me. I suppose my treating her like a real person with feelings made an impression on her.

badidea · Mar 3, 2009, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by dailymail

The study - carried out by Facebook - found that while the average user will be belong to a network of over 100 friends, they will be in regular contact with just a handful.

They probably forgot that quite a few facebook members have rather large contact lists (500+) because some games demand this.
I play "gangster battle" on fb and some of my gang members have families with more than 1000 members, which requires that you have more than 1000 "friends" on facebook!

Laminar · Mar 3, 2009, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Person Man

EDIT: Though I do have one person who has nearly 700 people on her list (being an attractive female computer nerd = tons of followers, apparently). I met her once (she's attended the same function that prompted me to join facebook in the first place) and wasn't going to friend her since I didn't know her all that well. But she's on the lists of the other 12 people I see regularly. I was surprised then, when she ended up friending me. I suppose my treating her like a real person with feelings made an impression on her.

It's really easy when in school to get a lot of contacts. I'm not even a very social person and I nearly have 700. Some of my girlfriend's well-connected sorority sisters have well over 1000, and they actually know all of them.

Person Man · Mar 3, 2009, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

It's really easy when in school to get a lot of contacts. I'm not even a very social person and I nearly have 700. Some of my girlfriend's well-connected sorority sisters have well over 1000, and they actually know all of them.

She's not in school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeri_Ellsworth

Spheric Harlot · Mar 8, 2009, 09:32 AM

Welp, apparently, Facebook users aren't friendless saddos at all:

Why Facebook is good for you - health - 06 March 2009 - New Scientist

…using the internet and social networking sites actually appears to reduce loneliness and improve well-being, as was reported as long ago as 2002 in the Journal of Social Issues (vol 58, p 49). People who have difficulties with conventional socialising, such as those with Asperger's syndrome, experience great benefits (New Scientist, 30 June 2007, p 26). As for social networking sites being a poor alternative to real-world socialising, surveys reported at a conference in 2006 (DOI: 10.1145/1180875.1180901) indicate that Facebook users mostly use it to maintain relationships with people they meet offline.