Facebook Friends: How Many Do I Need To Be Cool?

If you don't have a Facebook account, you are a loser; either that or you live on a different planet. Facebook has over one billion active monthly users(Fowler). Facebook is one of the largest social networking websites in which “members…craft an image of themselves as they would like to be seen” by others (Reardon). You create a profile in which you share your favorite books, movies, music, quotes and any additional information you want with the world, all complete with your personal picture, birthday, relationship status, religious views and political affiliation. After you set up all that jazz, upload some pictures into a virtual photo album, add the very popular bumper sticker application and you are ready to use the search bar to find and connect with friends as well as Facebook “stalk” or “creep” complete strangers. This is why I think Matthew Hutson’s Blog “What’s the Optimal Number of Facebook Friends?” is somewhat unnecessary and inaccurate. The number of friends you do or do not have does not matter. As stated by Patrick T. Reardon, “on Facebook, a ‘friend’ is not necessarily someone you know well.”

By definition, ‘friend’ means “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard” (dictionary.com). In my opinion, the Facebook definition of ‘friend’ can range anywhere from the dictionary-definition to something like “a person you once stood behind at the drinking fountain in the science wing in high school” or “your brother’s girlfriend’s best friend’s older cousin that you saw a picture of and thought was really cute.” Facebook is so impersonal and so creepy in the sense that you do not really even have to know or physically meet someone in real life to be ‘friends’ with them online, and ni...

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... do with what you want so do just that. No one needs a stranger deciding for all of society the optimal number of friends needed to be ‘cool’ in cyberspace.

Works Cited

Chen, Gina. "Deciding Whom to Friend on Facebook." Weblog post. The Post Standard. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .

Dictionary. com An Ask.com Service. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .

Fowler , Geoffrey A. “Facebook: One Billion and Counting” October 4, 2012 Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443635404578036164027386112

Hutson, Matthew. "What's the Optimal Number of Facebook Friends?" Weblog post. Psychology Today Blogs. 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .

McGinley, Mike. "Do You Facebook?" Weblog post. The Weekender. 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .

Reardon, Patrick T. "Facebook's "25 Things" are life stories in miniature." Chicago Tribune 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014 .