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.
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gimme a break by jt on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:14am
anyone reading this blog doesn't have a friend anyway.
mySpace is cotton candy for the soul.
(First?)
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They is my friends by Happy Gilmore on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:15am
I don't use tgose applications to meet new friends. I use them to keep up with and find old ones.
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get off the computers and start talking to people! by Common Sense on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:20am
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.
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by Anonymous Coward on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:21am
I've met most of my friends on this techdirt site
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Re: by Anonymous Coward on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:25am
AC @ #4 You mean like Dorpus and Angry Dude....tht's sad.
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by silver on Sep 11th, 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 :)
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Re: get off the computers and start talking to peo by jb on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:31am
You forgot make some real music worth listening to.
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Re: Re: by Anonymous Coward on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:36am
wtf mate, dorpus is a hero
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Re: They is my friends by cheeeeeeeeeeese on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:51am
indeed. Finding friends solely online will land you permanently in grandma's basement, or on Dateline, or both.
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Oh - My - GOD! by Shohat1 on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 11:56am
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.
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by Wolfger on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 12:09pm
myspace is garbage, but I've made lots of online friends who are actual friends.
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How do you know - who really is your friend? by Prometheus on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 12:46pm
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.
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Re: How do you know - who really is your friend? by Heracles on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 12:54pm
Lighten up Francis.
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Re: How do you know - who really is your friend? by Kilroy on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 12:55pm
Apparently, you never worked in my office - styabbing in the back seems to be our pastime.
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say what? by chris on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 2:13pm
you mean all those bikini bitches that send me friend requests aren't interested in my seksay???
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No shit? by o_O on Sep 11th, 2007 @ 2:25pm
Every great relationship is either founded on sex or loyal camaraderie. Tough for either ingredients to really come into play online.
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by Anonymous Coward on Sep 11th, 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.
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by ipanema on Sep 12th, 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.
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Re: How do you know - who really is your friend? by Grace on Nov 6th, 2007 @ 4:56am
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.
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