Turns Out Those Six Thousand People Who Are Your 'Friends' On MySpace Aren't Really Your Friends

from the no,-really? dept

This seems unlikely to come as a surprise to most people, but despite the number of tools and applications such as social networks for getting people to network with each other, the number of close friends that most people have hasn't really changed -- and it almost always involves people who have gotten to know each other face-to-face rather than online. This isn't particularly surprising or new, nor does it suggest that there's anything less real about online friends. It just confirms what pretty much everyone knows: while it's certainly possible to meet and get to know people quite well through online venues, meeting in person still has plenty of benefits -- especially for reaching a closer level of friendship.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: friends, relationships, social networks
Companies: facebook, myspace


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    jt, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:14am

    gimme a break

    anyone reading this blog doesn't have a friend anyway.

    mySpace is cotton candy for the soul.

    (First?)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Happy Gilmore, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:15am

    They is my friends

    I don't use tgose applications to meet new friends. I use them to keep up with and find old ones.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      cheeeeeeeeeeese, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:51am

      Re: They is my friends

      indeed. Finding friends solely online will land you permanently in grandma's basement, or on Dateline, or both.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Common Sense, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:20am

    get off the computers and start talking to people!

    It's easy to realize that having thousands of friends online doesn't really translate into any meaningful friendships and/or relationships. Those types of "friends" should be called "temporary fans", especially for artists and musicians using MySpace. So get off the computer and start making real friends in your surroundings.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      jb, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:31am

      Re: get off the computers and start talking to peo

      You forgot make some real music worth listening to.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:21am

    I've met most of my friends on this techdirt site

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    silver, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:29am

    I once had a friend but he died, of lonliness, then I got another friend, but he broke his leash and ran away, but then I had a third friend, until i forgot to water it. Now I have no friends, maby I should give myspace a try :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Shohat1, 11 Sep 2007 @ 11:56am

    Oh - My - GOD!

    Holy crap !
    You mean 500+ on linkedin are not actually business contacts, blog isn't a resume , and as self-inflicted CEO title doesn't mean that person is an executive ?!
    Oh my.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wolfger, 11 Sep 2007 @ 12:09pm

    myspace is garbage, but I've made lots of online friends who are actual friends.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Prometheus, 11 Sep 2007 @ 12:46pm

    How do you know - who really is your friend?

    Friends!? hmmm …The ones that I have … I had found when I was much younger. A time when I was not so cynical about life, fair play, and especially justice. (When you are young … you believe there is justice, but when you are old … you know that there is no justice) My true friends were just as excited about life as I.

    The main thing and most importantly, we trusted each other with our deepest secrets of our love life, dreams, and ambitions. My friends are still there to kick my rear-end when it is truly needed, or even during a rare moment that a hug is required. I do not trust easily anymore, nor am I so excited at all about life and living a dream.

    Therefore, I have the very same old friends plus a few very special ones that I had acquired along the way … during some of my darkest moments. Until then, I did not even recognize that they truly were my friends. Frankly, I never had a friend or a lover that I could not trust.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Heracles, 11 Sep 2007 @ 12:54pm

      Re: How do you know - who really is your friend?

      Lighten up Francis.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Kilroy, 11 Sep 2007 @ 12:55pm

      Re: How do you know - who really is your friend?

      Apparently, you never worked in my office - styabbing in the back seems to be our pastime.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Grace, 6 Nov 2007 @ 4:56am

      Re: How do you know - who really is your friend?

      Hi... What you said up there was totally true. Your one of the few people on this that I agree with. Although I never acquired a friend while I was young I still have friends right now that I trust with my life and my deepest secrets.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        jim, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:38am

        Re: Re: How do you know - who really is your friend?

        I once had a friend but he died, of lonliness, then I got another friend, but he broke his leash and ran away, but then I had a third friend, until i forgot to water it. Now I have no friends, maby laptop batteries I should give myspace a try :)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    chris (profile), 11 Sep 2007 @ 2:13pm

    say what?

    you mean all those bikini bitches that send me friend requests aren't interested in my seksay???

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    o_O, 11 Sep 2007 @ 2:25pm

    No shit?

    Every great relationship is either founded on sex or loyal camaraderie. Tough for either ingredients to really come into play online.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2007 @ 3:19pm

    I've never met anyone online that I'd be particularly interested in meeting offline. Myspace, or the like, is something I have no interest in nor am I ever likely to.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ipanema, 12 Sep 2007 @ 12:54am

    lol...i enjoyed reading the above comments. in social networking, most people just want to be 'seen', to be 'identified' with a certain person. the more they accumulate 'friends', the more 'popular' they think they've become.

    well, everything is enclosed in quotation marks because most of it is superficial, I guess.

    if you want to be friends with people in your community, there must interaction. otherwise, what good is it to have 5k faces whose only contribution is adorn your page.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.