We all have too many friends on our social networks. Why would you not accept friend requests, what does it matter that you don't know each other? We all want to have a big network of friends. But as soon as we get updates of people that we actually don't know, the value of the social network becomes less. Based on research of Dr. Dunbar the human brain does not allow for stable social networks of over 150 people. The average Facebooker has 120 friends. If even the average Facebook-user has close to the maximum of processable friends, many users will go way beyond this number.
Well, what's the issue? Of course kids in puberty will use social networks and all its applications. But after a certain age, the social part of these networking platforms will dimish. There is no value in getting updates of people you met once in a bar with semi-friends 12 years ago. You only want to receive information from people you care about, from people that think a like. Applications like MySpace and Facebook are becoming more and more about branding yourself, getting your self out to the world. People create movies they want to share with the world. Whether people are actually watching, not important. It is about setting yourself in the middle of the world, at least the world you care about. Great for creativity and self-esteem, less great for social interaction.
The real future of online networking applications is much more in platforms like delicious and Twitter. These platforms are based on information sharing with people that have the same interests. Twitter provides social interaction as well, but the key of their success will be in customized information flows. Delicious organizes your own tags of website, but in the end is all about sharing these tags with your think-alikes. These platforms might end up in the center of our information-based society.
For more details on the social processing capabilities of the human brain, have a look at 'Primates on Facebook'
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