From CBC News Last Updated: Monday, September 10, 2007 | 1:36 PM ET>>read more. read two related posts: post 1 and post 2. Social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace aren’t expanding people’s circles of close friends, but they are creating plenty of meaningless relationships, according to British researchers. A study of the sites revealed that while many users have hundreds or even thousands of acquaintances on their accounts, their core group of close friends is still unchanged at around five people. However, weak ties among people around the globe are rising exponentially, said Will Reader, an evolutionary psychologist at Sheffield Hallam University, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The online study used a questionnaire and, based on the first 200 responses, found that close friendships were formed through in-person meetings in an overwhelming 90 per cent of cases. “Face-to-face contact is a requirement for intimate friendships,” he told the conference. “There are many emotional cues that people give face to face, such as smiling and laughing, which are impossible to fake, whereas online it is easy to say, ‘You are wonderful, I love you.’ ” A previous study done at the University of Liverpool found that most people have an average of 150 acquaintances in their social network yet also maintain a small core group of friends, which may indicate limitations on the human brain. Reader said there are “good evolutionary reasons” why core friendship groups are so small. Making friendships means investing time and even money in another person, in which case face-to-face contact is invaluable so that people can see whether their investment is worthwhile. On the internet, it is “very easy to be deceptive” he said. Social networking sites are, however, giving rise to a group of people known as friend collectors, who add little-known acquaintances just for the sake of having a large number of contacts on their profile. This allows people to “collect friends like boys collect Airfix models.”
Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’
Blockbuster sued over Facebook ad feature
April 19, 2008From Chicago Tribue By AMANDA FEHD Associated Press Writer 11:51 PM CDT, April 17, 2008 click to read more.
SAN JOSE – A Texas woman has sued Blockbuster Inc. alleging the video rental company transmitted her personal information to Facebook.com through the Web site’s Beacon marketing program. Cathryn Elaine Harris, of Dallas County, Texas, claims that Beacon, which Facebook launched in November, got the information from Blockbuster through computer tracking programs without her permission.
Facebook users translate new versions for free
April 19, 2008Posted on Chicago Tribune From the Los Angeles Times By Tomoko A. Hosaka The Associated Press 1:31 PM CDT, April 18, 2008 click to read more.
TOKYO — The three-year-old social networking phenomenon Facebook, worth more than $15 billion by many estimates, got a good deal on going global. Its users around the world are translating Facebook’s visible framework into nearly two dozen languages — for free — aiding the company’s aggressive expansion to better serve the 60% of its 69 million users who live outside the United States. The company says it’s using the wisdom of crowds to produce versions of site guidelines — especially terms specific to Facebook — that are in tune with local cultures. “We thought it’d be cool,” said Javier Olivan, international manager at Facebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif. “Our goal would be to hopefully have one day everybody on the planet on Facebook.”