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If you're on Facebook... how many "Facebook Friends" do you have? [View all]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/your-facebook-friends-have-more-friends-than-you/2012/02/03/gIQAuNUlmQ_story.html
Your Facebook friends have more friends than you
By Hayley Tsukayama
February 3, 2012
The average Facebook user has 245 friends. But the average friend on Facebook has 359 friends. So says the latest study by the Pew Center’s Internet and American Life Project. But how could it be true that your friends, on average, are more popular than you?
It’s just the digital reflection of what’s known to sociologists as the “friendship paradox.” In 1991, sociologist Scott Feld found that, generally speaking, any person’s friends tend to be more popular than they are. The reason, he said, is fairly simple: people are more likely to be friends with someone who has more friends than someone who has fewer friends.
This is true on Facebook as well, the study found. A small number of people are isolated and don’t appear on many lists, but popular people show up again and again.
Another interesting result of the study finds that Facebook users tend to get more messages, friend requests, likes and photo tags than they give, pointing to the existence of a few Facebook “power-users” driving the site’s activity.
Keith Hampton, a professor at Rutgers University and the lead author of the report, said that power users make up around 20-30 percent of Facebook’s users, and that there are three specialties within these power users. Some users send a lot of friend requests, while others most frequently “like” posts and pictures. A third kind of power user tends to make a lot of photo tags.
By Hayley Tsukayama
February 3, 2012
The average Facebook user has 245 friends. But the average friend on Facebook has 359 friends. So says the latest study by the Pew Center’s Internet and American Life Project. But how could it be true that your friends, on average, are more popular than you?
It’s just the digital reflection of what’s known to sociologists as the “friendship paradox.” In 1991, sociologist Scott Feld found that, generally speaking, any person’s friends tend to be more popular than they are. The reason, he said, is fairly simple: people are more likely to be friends with someone who has more friends than someone who has fewer friends.
This is true on Facebook as well, the study found. A small number of people are isolated and don’t appear on many lists, but popular people show up again and again.
Another interesting result of the study finds that Facebook users tend to get more messages, friend requests, likes and photo tags than they give, pointing to the existence of a few Facebook “power-users” driving the site’s activity.
Keith Hampton, a professor at Rutgers University and the lead author of the report, said that power users make up around 20-30 percent of Facebook’s users, and that there are three specialties within these power users. Some users send a lot of friend requests, while others most frequently “like” posts and pictures. A third kind of power user tends to make a lot of photo tags.
POLL QUESTION: If you're on Facebook... how many "Facebook Friends" do you have?
| 42 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
| Under 100 | |
13 (31%) |
|
| 101 - 200 | |
7 (17%) |
|
| 201 - 300 | |
7 (17%) |
|
| 301 - 400 | |
7 (17%) |
|
| 401 - 500 | |
2 (5%) |
|
| Over 500 | |
6 (14%) |
|
| 2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
| Show usernames
Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
|
75 replies
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