Are Facebook Friends Real Friends?

New media and the internet have redefined the boundaries and conditions of friendship and social relationships. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace have redefined the definition ‘friendship’ and for many, these sites have opened a portal towards meeting new people with similar interests, or perhaps mutual friends. The social networking sites have allowed for the expansion of the communication process across yet another easy to use medium, that is more attractive than an email or chat forum, or even a phone call, as it offers the all same features, with simplistic capabilities and the option of multitasking. And although for many of us Facebook users have not experienced the negative consequences for using such websites, they still exist and pose a threat to the future of social relations.

For many of us who grow and move through different areas of life, it could be school, university, different jobs, Facebook allows us to find and connect to people from all of these areas, even when they have passed through our lives and we no longer socially interact on a personal level any more. And as time goes by, a continuing appears to be that more and more people who were once part of your life, or have met you only a couple of times decide to be your friend on Facebook. So we have to ask ourselves, do we accept these people because are truly friends with them and plan to engage in further social relations in the future, or press that button which says confirm for voyeuristic purposes, to see and take a look at what other people may be up to?

In my own personal experience, on my departure from high school was met with several friend requests from people I went to school with, but had never engaged in any sort of conversation with in my life, which resulted in them being denied. Facebook and other sites should be for communication amongst the relevant people within our lives, and a social problem is that is has become about receiving high friend counts and viewing others’ personal information for the purpose of entertainment. Friendship is reduced and mocked in this sense, and with websites such as Facebook, we should be smart with our personal information, because at the end of the day, you don’t know who’s looking.

Online Privacy

It seems like privacy is becoming more of a issue with the internet becoming more mainstream. Everyone and anyone can look at someone's profile and know what school they went to, what job they do, who their friends are, what they look like, where they live and even their cellphone number - if they're silly enough to list it.
People need to be more aware of the World Wide Web. That's exactly what it is, world wide.

With profile sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, they allow users to personalise their profiles with pictures and personal information. They also allow people to add and decline friends as they please and by doing this, it means that more friends they add, the more people out there in the wide web can see their information and pictures due to links.
However, it seems as though Bebo and now MySpace are a dying breed, at least in my opinion, people are now moving onto Facebook. I think it may be because of the simple design and it's a lot more private. By this I mean that they allow an option where you can select people to see your "Limited Profile". This is an option that allow users to customise and put things that they want their "weak ties" to see, for example. I think it's a good idea, especially if you're a serial friend adder, i.e. someone who values the amount of friends they have. It allows people to add whoever they want but also keep personal details private and open only to those they know in person.

I do think that people still need to be more weary of their privacy...profile sites such as Facebook can only protect your personal information to a certain point. I think it really is down to the user to make good decisions on who they are adding. Many profiles are fake and only want to be added so they can gain information for marketing purposes or even hacking purposes.

Maybe think twice before you add the next "friend" to your profile, even though they might be the one who will finally achieve your goal of hitting one million friends!