Do friendships have a time and end? Does Facebook immortalize friendships?

                The new online social network, Path.com sites a research study that claims that one person can only maintain on average 150 relationships. As a result unlike Facebook where you can have as many friends as you want on Path you are limited to a 50. I did seriously consider switching over but then realized that I don’t know anyone else that is on Path so that would negate the point of being on a social network.

                Facebook will tell you that I have 600+ friends but I think that I only constantly communicate with about a 100, maybe even less. So those 100 make up my network of friends both online and offline. The other 500+ ‘Facebook friends’ are actually acquaintances and the advantage of being connected to them through Facebook is that in case you wish to re-connect with them they are only a wall post away. It also makes me feel good about myself by feeling connected and loved.    

                Just like everything else in life, friendships are also in constant flux. While some relationships develop from acquaintanceships into friendships others go in the opposite direction. Some of my closest and most treasured friendships have turned in to acquaintanceships over time. The findings of the study should not be surprising to anyone and clearly show that most friendships do have a time and end. When life rolls along and we meet new people, our network expands to levels that we as humans cannot keep up with. So it is only natural that the ascendancy of certain friendships leads to the decline of others.

This raises the question whether Facebook can stop this process and in a sense whether it can immortalize friendships. I personally believe that while Facebook and other sites of similar caliber do a wonderful job of connecting people across the world, it does not stop the decline of certain friendships. It can of course help maintain and develop friendships especially long distance ones as the internet in general helps us communicate faster and more efficiently than ever before. Also being able to see pictures and videos of friends in distant places and being able to communicate in a group setting makes the friendship feel more real. The old world order of pen pals could have never done that although the effect of a handwritten letter once in awhile cannot be underestimated. The internet like postal mail is simply a tool that enables us to communicate and keep in touch but whether we value our friendships enough to make full use of these tools is up to us.

                So for the most part the internet, Facebook etc have only changed how we interact and not whether we interact.