Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Monday, November 15, 2010

The New Path for Close Friends

I spent at least an hour yesterday replying to "friends" on FaceBook who sent me birthday wishes...some as simple as "happy Birthday," and some with actual messages. It was nice to be remembered, but I know that a majority of them didn't realize it was my birthday until FaceBook reminded them. Therein lies a problem. While I know all of the several people I have "friended," I don't regularly keep in touch with more than ten of them or so. I rarely say "no" to anyone who asks to be a friend because I rarely spend any time on the site revealing anything about my personal life...unlike a lot of posts I happen across. That's why Path is for me.
Path is a new social networking site with two specific differences than the ones with which we're familiar:
1) It is designed to be used by folks with a mobile phone
2) Users are limited to 50 friends.

The rationale for the second one is quite interesting. Evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar posited that the limit to personal relationships for anyone is 150. that's because the neocortex which controls conscious thought and language can only hold that amount of information. Makes sense to me.
It was determined by Dunbar that at any one time we have 5 people that we trust with anything, and 20 BFFs with whom we hang out all the time and share a lot in our personal network of 50 people. I can believe that, though my numbers would be far smaller than the ones noted.
The point that will grab people is that we have become so wary of relating anything personal on current social networks that we've become rather superficial...no doubt. By limiting our contact to people with whom we are comfortable being ourselves, the theory is that we will be more personal and intimate, giving the exchanges real meaning. Maybe so.
But I don't have a mobile phone with internet access.
But the, I don't have 5 most trusted people, either, or 20 BFFs so I guess this is for the rest of you.
Enjoy.

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