MaestroJ - digital strategy & new media

We’ve all been told that Facebook “friends” aren’t real; being part of a celebrity’s network on MySpace doesn’t mean you can invite them over for dinner; dozens of the Twitter followers you have probably know hardly anything about you, and yet on a daily basis many of us spend a fair amount of time finding out what these people are up to, listen to what they have to say, and interact with them in different ways.

“Friend” is a loaded word with very many associations and considerations; anthropological, sociological, cultural, psychological. We all attribute our own meanings to it, derived from personal experiences and ideas on what defines friendship.

Online, the advent of social media has raised the question of “What is a friend?” again and again, as we grapple for definitions/limitations/criteria to apply to an entirely new communications model. Without time and space as obstacles our capacity for creating and maintaining relationships have grown exponentially, largely increasing the quantity of “friends” we can have across multiple networks.

Dunbar’s number is an idea proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar; that there is a limit to the number of people which you can have stable relationships with. Of course, in 1992 when Dunbar published this, many of the popular social networking sites weren’t around. (The number most commonly cited just in case you were wondering, is 150).

Many, many people have and continue to muse on this new condition of “friendship”. Some wonder about the transience of the online friend as new platforms emerge constantly. Others concern themselves with etiquette, and even with developing these friendships into love.

Mike Arauz, a strategist for a New York think tank, chose to describe online friendship along a “spectrum defined by the actions people take and how we feel about them”. The spectrum is found below.

Spectrum of Online Friendship by Mike Arauz

Arauz’s spectrum is pragmatic and provides a nice categorisation. His approach is of course marketing-centric, and focuses around ways for brands to foster relationships (friendships) with their consumers.

Irrespective of whether you choose to approach it from a commerical or a cultural viewpoint, what I welcome is the new emerging behaviours that result from the new modes of connectivity technology has allowed us. There are different dynamics, politics and ways of engaging to consider, and it’s all interesting and exciting and shouldn’t be stifled by outdated and limiting ideas. As long as it doesn’t result in information overload I hold to the old adage that when it comes to friends, you can never have too many.