Facebook. How many friends? How did you choose them?

Just interested in this.

Remember that threads in IB are like a book cover, if you don't like the look of it. you don't have to read or contribute to it. This thread isn't for Facebook bashing and comments about how it's a load of carp and the downfall of society.

I have 85 friends currently. Most of those are couples and families, where both partners and in some cases their children are on my Facebook friends list, so that immediately cuts the number in half. So I estimate I have about 50 households with access to my Facebook page, of which approximately

• 10 are family
• 20 are friends who I've known for a long time and trust even if I don't get to see all of them all that often
• 10 are .org forum members who I have met and socialised with on at least 3 or 4 occasions .org weekends away, SV Ecosse and Madlanders rideouts, etc. They are people I like, know they have a good heart, and are not are not likely to cause any problems for me in any way. If I've met a forum member once, on a rideout or .org weekend away, they won't be on my friend list.
• 5 the family members of good friends, whom I also know and have met and socialised with on more than one occasion
• 5 neighbours

My Facebook is (I think) totally locked down. If not on my friend list, or if logged out, you should see nothing but my profile picture and my name.

I use Facebook to share photo's, including those of my child or my wife on the beach in her bikini. I share news via status updates, which may sometimes be of a personal nature. For me it's a means of communication in a busy world where, there isn't always time (or willing, by the time I sit down at night I'm usually knackered), to phone or write to everyone personally. I don't want the world to see this stuff.

I have teenage cousins and removed rights for 'friends of friends' from my security settings, because they have 400 odd 'friends' on Facebook, so if they commented on something I'd posted, half their school, and presumably others in their households parents, brothers, sisters, etc were getting a peak too!

I realise everyone uses Facebook for different things, some see it the opposite to me, it's a public medium, their security settings are configured default, it's the internet and they wouldn't put on anything private.

So how do you use yours?

How many friends do you have on your Facebook page?

What is your criteria to decide if someone should be a Facebook 'friend'?

[dizzyblonde]

My profile is totally private, as far as I am aware, only friends can see things, unless I have allowed access for a specific photo or post.
I do every now and again remove friends, not because I dislike them, just that they serve no purpose. I never accept requests from friends kids, I am an adult and therefore sometimes content is not u rated!
I have never blocked somebody, but do occasionally limit audience....ie something I don't want my mum to see, amongst other people.
Peg has about 30 friends, he culled everyone at one point, no disrespect to anyone, but he has who he wants on there, even friends he has met and likes with respect aren't there, hey, he doesnt even have missyburd, and he sees her often!!

I can't understand these people who seem to add randoms, or folk they met once from the other side of the world and are not likely to meet again. Sometimes it does seem folk have millions of friends just to look popular....ego massage!

322 friends, might have to look and see how many I actually need there

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

I can't understand these people who seem to add randoms, or folk they met once from the other side of the world and are not likely to meet again.

Surely it has a purpose there if you got on with someone and want to stay in touch?
More so than having people on there who you see regularly even.

Dunno how many friends, don't care, can't be bothered deleting people I don't put much personal info on anyway.

Just looked, I have 78, quite a few are family or friends of family, there's quite a few off here as when I joined up FB, it had a suggested list so naively I just went along with it.
I hardly add anyone, not because I don't want to be FB friends with them, just can't be bothered.

Realistically, I could get mine down to about 60 with no bother.

Btw, I'm one of the Ralph's lucky ones.

[Swin]

40 odd, mostly family with some real life friends and that's about it, mostly use fb to share holiday snaps with friends

[DJ123]

About 80. All are friends, people I've met and chatted to. Got most of the GM on there. I use it to upload photos, chat to people I don't see regular and to catch up on things.

[Paul the 6th]

I had a massive cull in April and got down to 35 or 38 friends... Back upto 150 nearly now. My rule is I don't add people, they can add me. Then I can decide whether I know the person well enough to class them as a friend when they send a request.

Also recently set up my options to let me approve photo & status tags as I have a few people I work with on there, then various people get upset when I delete their status updates because I don't think it's suitable for said work people. I honestly think it would be nice to go back to a pre-facebook world though.

50 and i use it as a social tool
by social i mean arrange ****ups and abuse friends
security well 1/ i dont even use my real name 2/ non of my family are friends 3/ nothing of consiquence goes on

854...

2 are family..

[Jayneflakes]

My Facebook is open to anyone because I use it as a way of promoting my writing, promoting my Blog and being in touch with people who listen to my radio show (when I am not banned for my constant swearing/flatulence/being mean on air). I tend to post jokes, fake status updates that are silly/rude/imply that I am mentally ill and just use it as a fun tool. I also post Human Rights campaigns, political cartoons or statements that I think promote comments and I enjoy seeing debate on my page. However, if something posted by some one else annoys me, or is too pointedly implying that I am something that I am not, I will delete it.

I am lucky enough to have Some Org friends on there too, but I know that given the content of my page, it is not for every one and I know that some people add me and then remove me due to this contect. I am not offended by this because the the Facebook thing is not a true representation of who I am, if anything it is another caricature, one of the many facets that make up my radio personality.

I had given thought to actually having a locked down personal one where do I do share my personal feelings and thoughts, but to be honest, I don't enjoy Facebook enough to do so. Were it not for the Radio station, I would have probably closed my FB account by now and spend the time reading, writing or torturing my owl with a cattle prod!