Why Facebook friends are worth keeping

NOTHING personal, but I don’t really want to be your online friend. I’m sorry, I’m sure you are very nice. It’s not you, it’s me: I’m feeling grumpy and a tad antisocial, so perhaps we are all better off.

And that goes for you too, annoying ex-classmate who just “friended” me on Facebook. Get lost, media-type I met at a party; your all-too-frequent status updates are pretentious. Trusted colleague, please stop judging my professionalism by the posts on my wall. And mother, you know I love you, but instead of getting upset, please just stop looking at my late-night pub photos.

It may come as no surprise that I have been having second thoughts about online social networking. Anecdotally at least, cutting the cord may be the healthy way to go. My wife shunned such networks from the start and yet has so far managed to avoid becoming a social pariah (between us, this has had an upside: up until now she has been blissfully unaware that an ex-girlfriend friended me last year). In short, what started out as a fun way to keep up with friends is now stressing me out.

For many of us - 400 million worldwide so far and counting - online networking has become enmeshed in our daily lives. It has transformed our social structures and behaviour. Research tracking our habits on these sites is only just emerging, and its conclusions have come as a surprise to cynics like me. It seems these tools are altering our influence over others, improving our chances of professional success and even making us happier. Could the benefits of social networking be too good to miss out on?

Source:
Why Facebook friends are worth keeping
newscientist.com