Facebook friends

[**Helen**]

Are they real - or just a bunch of fakes?

Read what Sara thinks

[Ballerina]

All of my friends on myspace and facebook are people i know IRL anyway, cba with adding loads of people i don't know just to look popular. I just joined facebook the other day and have just found my old best friend from primary school who i haven't seen for years!

[Kermit]

Have to say I'd agree with that. A lot of people on my Facebook are just passing acquaintances (and whilst I like some of them, I know I'll never see them again once I/they leave my current work). But I don't think people ever pretend that they are anything other than that.

The good thing about the internet is that its easy to make friends with some very interesting people; the bad thing is that its easy to unmake friends when they get boring.

[Welsh Jemz]

everyone on my friends list apart from 3/4 are people i know in real life and regularly see anyway

it's just a great way to keep in touch with friends that have moved away and family

[purplebutterfly]

I dont have any facebook friends, because I have no Facebook and no desire to get one. I just dont understand why people let it rule their lives.

[Man Of Kent]

Originally Posted by Kermit

Have to say I'd agree with that. A lot of people on my Facebook are just passing acquaintances (and whilst I like some of them, I know I'll never see them again once I/they leave my current work). But I don't think people ever pretend that they are anything other than that.

I thought that we were bestest mates an everyfing...

[Crumbs]

Facebook...good for getting in contact with old childhood school mates if you wish to, other than that I think its gone too OTT. People use it instead of texting now. Who knows what will be next.

[Welsh Jemz]

i use it to force push my friends and to perform the jedi mind trick on them

[littlemissy]

I have about 7 friends on facebook. I know 6 of them IRL and am really good friends with them. The other is my hubby!

I mainly like facebook for the applications. I am currently addicted to the Travellers IQ application. It's far too addictive

[Knee High Stripy Socks]

Do you not know your hubby IRL then?

I use facebook to keep in contact with my uni friends during the day because they are guarunteed to check it more frequently than their emails!

[nicolalou]

Originally Posted by littlemissy

I am currently addicted to the Travellers IQ application. It's far too addictive

I am on it like fifty times a day!

I have over four hundred friends on Facebook so obviously they are not all my real friends. But, it's a great way to keep in contact with people I met on my year abroad, people from my home town and people from Uni wherever I may be in the world. I can say though, I don't add anyone that I don't know, so of the four hundred, I was either in school with them, dated them, lived with them, worked with them or took a class with them.

If you think about it, in a normal class in Uni there's about thirty people in a semester and I'd add about two or three from each class who i got to know and did a project with etc. I have four or five seminars a week with different people and then three years of study. These people don't half add up. Also I've had three jobs and there were hundred and fifty people in our sixth form.

I don't agree what she says about "what happened to good old phoning up on the birthday". If it's a very close friend, of course I'd do that too, or I'd be with them. But, when you're in a different country because you or they are travelling, Facebook can be very helpful indeed!

[bluewisdom]

The thing is, they should be called 'Contacts' instead of 'Friends'. I think that would help clear up some false pretences. I do find Facebook very useful for keeping in touch with friends who are abroad, and I've also been reunited with lost childhood friends. That has been great. (I also have fun with the applications ).

I do agree with the OP though, I've had many former schoolmates adding me to their frinds list which I was never EVER friends with while at school. Why they would add me I really don't understand. And yeah, it would feel rude to turn them down... what I do is I usually end up adding them to my limited profile list.

[Dear Wendy]

Originally Posted by bluewisdom

The thing is, they should be called 'Contacts' instead of 'Friends'. I think that would help clear up some false pretences.

Not really, the original idea of facebook, before applications and opening up for everyone, was to strengthen the sense of community at unis. That's why you can only view the profiles of people in your networks contrary to MySpace.

[I'm With Stupid]

There's a few things I like about Facebook. The first is that you can keep up to date with what old friends are up to when you might not see them very often any more. I don't really talk to my close friends on Facebook because I see them or at least call them fairly often. And there are plenty of people that might not be your best friends, but you certainly want to stay in touch with and see what they're doing.

And secondly, the groups on Facebook are far better than pretty much any message board. There's no way that I could've posted about an obscure Japanese TV drama series on this website, because no-one will've heard of it. But go onto Facebook, and of course there's a group dedicated to it. They might not have the community of a website like this, but you're more likely to get a more in depth discussion about obscure topics.

[Ricardo R]

I have some huge issues about being added as a "friend" on Facebook. Every single week, when I go out, I will meet/be introduced to people. The majority of them I don't like - I think they're boring, can't ever see a friendship forming between us, don't want to be associated with them etc, we clearly don't click, yet they go and add me as a friend. If I'm inevitably going to see them again eg if we are from the same social circle or go to the same club it's hard to reject them and then be confronted the next time. Additionally I have a lot of random people adding me as a friend, messaging me that we should meet up for a drink and 'network', whatever the hell that means - they probably want help getting a job doing what I do or something. Their approach is very aggressive eg "What time is good for you?" or "Let's go for a drink on Wednesday, cool?", they don't appreciate I barely have time to see my close friends yet alone random people from the internet. If they're a hot-looking girl that's a different matter though lol.