Are Your Facebook Friends Fake? Research Says 'YES'
Finding Facebook Fake Friends
Ever since I created my Facebook account, I have stopped making friends – I ‘add’ them now a days!
Did you get the difference?
So…you can relate to this as well. We all have done this at some point of time or another or are still doing it. Increasing number of friends in our profile is someway a boost to our confidence. We start comparing our friends list with that of others and take pride in mentioning that we have hundreds of friends in Facebook. Teenagers compete with one another – there are people who have more than 5000 friends in ‘added’.
Fake Friendships
Can anyone actually have 5000 friends in real life? How will you speak to your friends – how will you hangout with them? In the real world, I actually do not know anyone who has 5000 friends. How do we manage to make so many friends in Facebook?
Real-Life Friendship and Facebook Friends:
There is plenty of difference – in fact, of my 350 Facebook friends, I actually have 20 real friends. These are the people I interact with – but that too not everyday. What about my other friends. Are they real friends or fake? Aren’t friends supposed to be interacting?
Facts About Facebook Friends:
In the recent times, a lot of research is being conducted on the nature of Facebook friends and the psychology behind having innumerable friends in Facebook. Here are some interesting facts revealed by the research:
- Friends are added as a status symbol. The more friends you have ( better, if opposite sex), the more acceptable you are socially.
- Even if you have a few friends they actually do not care. They wouldn’t even sympathize with your problems.
- In spite of having so many friends, how many friends would you actually depend on?
- Many people add friends to increase the count of their likes and comments.
- Several boys add girls not to be friends, but simply to have access to their photographs, videos and updates.
- Many people add friends without even checking profiles. It is known that many of these profiles are created newly without any relevant information or sometimes even with wrong information.
- The irony is that even if one such so called friend is ‘unfriended’ no one misses their presence.
Does this happen in real life? If you do not see or speak to your good friend for long, wouldn’t you miss him/her?
All these are a good indication that most of our friends in Facebook are actually fake. The fact remains that our social network friends can never be dependent upon.
Many people believe that they fail to interact with their friends because they are busy. Communication is a problem and they do not find time. Is it true? I believe, if you are having time to check or access your Facebook profile, why wouldn’t you have time to interact with your friend?
Lack Of Communication – Is it a good reason?
Social network provides us ample opportunities of communication. There are several chatting apps available and messengers where communication is simple. In spite of such easy communication, why does one not have any contact Facebook friends? The reason is simple – your friends are fake, they have nothing to talk about. Either they make friends to check out your photographs, your videos or simply to track what you are doing. It is just a matter of curiosity – something which they would love to know about it.
How Much Do You Know Your Facebook Friends
This is just for you – if you have 100’s of Facebook friends, this test is for you. Visit the profile of some of your friends and try to know more about them. How much do you know the person? In spite of sharing every detail about your life, do you actually know how your friend is doing?
Friendship Of Fantasies:
Facebook friendships are said to be a relationship of fantasies. It is a foolish trap and when we make so many friends in a social network, we are getting stuck in a vicious cycle. It creates a psychological imbalance in us. We start living in a fake world which is rules by likes and comments. Friends who ‘LIKE’ your profile pictures and status updates are understood to be real friends.
Facebook has changed the meaning of friendship
In fact, it is said that over the last few years, Facebook has actually change the definition of real friend. Facebook has turned friendship into a superficial online game, where everyone is simply running to acquire fake online friends. It is something we all know and understand, but still we seek such friendships.
Do not get involved into this vicious cycle. Make friends and simply do not ‘add’ friends for the sake of increasing your friends in the social network.
It’s the time to be real and enjoy our friends around us.
Comments
AUTHORThanks for liking the article Tamara. Cheers to life and hope we all make real good friends. :)
Excellent article, and really an eye-opener!
I used to be naive and think my Facebook Friends really cared about me, and that it was a True and Real relationship. But, I know differently, now, save a few who are actually sincere.
It's true, though, that if we were to drop off the face of the earth, our Facebook Friends would be none the wiser...save a few.
Thank you for this informative post!
This article has come through my feed a time or two so I clicked to see what it's all about. Frankly, I have not been concerned with whether or not FB friends are real. I always check the profile of people I accept or request before adding them to my network. Until recently I never distinguished between online friends and real life friends, but I always had to feel like I had some kind of natural connection before adding someone to FB. The platform is an excellent way to network when needed and a fun way to share smaller aspects of a person's life. But it isn't a daily diary and in general, not a place to blast incredibly intimate details, although I see plenty of people who do.
Keep in mind, though, that many employers look to social media these days to reference character. Private social lives and professional lives are not as separate as they used to be. People posting about getting drunk the night before and then calling in sick to work the next day are likely to get caught. I have seen that firsthand.
As for privacy, I also keep my settings to private so that only people on my friend list can see the things that I share. Now they have it so that you can set a post for only specific people to see and you can exclude those "fake" friends and general acquaintances if you wish.
I have a lot of facebook friend. I almost never friend anyone. They friend me. I accept because I assume they like to see what I post. About once a month, some creepy guy is actually trying to pick me up via pm on facebook. I tell him I am not interested. If he tries a second time, I unfriend him immediately.
I keep my life as uncomplicated as possible. I do not have a Facebook account. Several years ago, I signed on (REGRETTABLY!) to contact a friend that I knew had a FB account & I had no other way to locate her. Silly me, when that simple objective was accomplished, I cancelled my account......CORRECTION: I believed I was canceling. I guess once your name appears on FB it's etched in stone forever & ever (?) I have tried every which way to delete my name from sight (and site!) to no avail. I've even had friends tell me they could remove it for me......BUT, it's still there.
It annoys me because every once in a while, I will get notified of someone wanting to friend me or some such fluff.....and I just ignore it. I do not wish to have a FB account. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN REMOVE MY EXISTENCE ON FB?? I'd appreciate your help!
Thanks, Paula
It's a very complicated topic I believe. It also depends from culture to culture and country to country.
You say truth 'friends must not be added randomly.'
But if most of those are acquaintances or known people (even in passing), fb friends can prove helpful.
I personally don't have many friends on FB. I would love to have though. I want this for one most important reason. 'If you have followers, your voice can reach to many.' if you highlight any disturbing act that requires immediate attention and rectification, viral videos and posts (through fb and other channels) can expedite the matter.
A person with good social standing is valuable.
For instance, say, you have 5000 friends. If you put the link to this article on Facebook, even if 1,000 people visit, think how much you can benefit. :)
I know the people personally that I'm friended with. My daughter (28) refuses to add anyone she doesn't know personally, even if only as an acquaintance. I know my 'friends,' many are relatives, former coworkers, and friends for many years,and I think they would be hurt if I thought they were fake. Nor am I fake. I think the study may be be -- dare I say, fake?
Just as fake news equals tape recordings of Mr. Trump saying things that aren't very nice or very smart, and the tapes prove it isn't fake, that he actually said exactly what is reported and replayed -- but he doesn't like the fact that those tapes have become public, so I think maybe some people are confused as to exactly what fake means.
Do you think the writers (other than yourself) here on HubPages are fake? There are thousands of us.
Actually, of the 'friends' that I speak to or see everyday, I have discovered which ones can be depended on. Nothing like hard times to learn who all people are, not just your friends.
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