So now we know the blindingly obvious (or is it?) fact that social networking sites like Bebo, Facebook and MySpace don’t widen your circle of close friends.

Most of my friends are on Facebook, and I’ve started to use that a bit more than Bebo. I mean, Bebo’s got a reputation for being teenager’s site, and I’m getting on a bit now, so Facebook is the fashionable alternative.

I’ve ‘met up with’ many friends that I hadn’t seen or heard from in years. It’s great to hear from them again, and you’ll organise to go for a pint with them or whatever.

But, as this new research from Sheffield Hallam University says that the average person’s group of friends consists five very close friends, and a much larger group of 150 friends that we keep in touch with less frequently.

If you’re in any doubt as to what Facebook (and the other social networking sites) is, here’s a really good primer (and yes, if you’ve guessed, The Guardian is my favourite newspaper!).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Social. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.