Comments on: Do You Really Need 500 Friends on That Social Network? Is It Time to Unfriend Some People?

By: Joanna Pineda

Joanna Pineda — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:30:03 +0000

Thanks for all the comments. It’s fascinating to learn about how people are friending, unfriending and managing their social networks.

Chris, thank you for introducing me to Dunbar’s Number. I wonder what Dunbar would say about how the size of a company, team or department affects the relationships in a company. For example, does fraud increase past the stable number? What happens to efficiency and the networks that ultimately allow people to work together?

By: Anthony Bozzi

Anthony Bozzi — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:15:50 +0000

I have 191 “friends” (but have only been on facebook for about 3 months) I know people who have over a thousand! I think some people view it as a popularity contest…I do feel a little inadequate compared to some other facebookers!

By: Chris Hagner

Chris Hagner — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:57:14 +0000

Check out “Dunbar’s Number”… it’s cited often in how very large organizations are structured, but I think it has real application to social media networks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number

- Chris

By: Ray Stankiewicz

Ray Stankiewicz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:57:04 +0000

I used to use Qwitter to flag me when people stopped following me. It may be useful for some aspects of determining what messaging is/isn’t working: http://useqwitter.com/

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:16:42 +0000

I have yet to “unfriend” anyone, but I do put my friends into groups and alter some of the restrictions on what people can see on my profile. It helps give me some privacy, but I can still stay connected.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:05:43 +0000

I solved part of this problem by creating two group I call “No Status Update” and “Not Close.” Into the first group I put people who don’t merit hearing about my thoughts/life because they never post a Status Update or comment on mine. But I don’t want to unfriend them, because I do like them and if they ever started using FB actively, I’d be happy to take them off thta list.

And the “Not Close” folks are for just that — people I’m happy to remain in touch with (former clients, for example)—but who I don’t want to see my entire profile. There is often overlap with these two groups.

And then, I use Privacy Settings to carefully restrict what those two groups have access to.

By: Trevor Davis

Trevor Davis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:48:36 +0000

I actually did this for my Twitter followers a few weeks ago. If a person that I was following did nothing by tweet and re-tweet links, I un-followed them. I try and use Twitter for making connections in the web industry. I will let anyone follow me, but I am very selective about who I follow. On the other hand, I use Facebook for just family and friends.

By: Al

Al — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:23:52 +0000

Joanna very good idea, like a social network diet, without limiting your intake of food.

By: Garry

Garry — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:10:40 +0000

Yep sure do! That social network is called “My Speed Dial” - or the people that I want to call when I’m bored on a Friday night. :)

By: Joanna M. Pineda

Joanna M. Pineda — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:02:38 +0000

Garry, thanks for the comment. Do you reserve any social network pages for your true friends? I read somewhere that men are more likely to have large networks and accept all friend requests? What do you think?

By: Garry

Garry — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:50:14 +0000

I have a few hundred friends myself, but I am pretty generic about the stuff that I post, and don’t share my birthday. I also have some customers on my friends list, so for the most part, my online activites are “consumable by the masses” so I generally accept every friend request I get and have never defriended anyone.

-Garry