Prediction #4 - Small will be the new big for social networks
We've all done it - my great Facebook Cleanse came in the summer of 2010, when I whittled about 400 people off my friends list to focus on the people I, you know, actually care about. Some people have the "Birthday Rule" - if you wouldn't say happy birthday, axe them.
This is becoming more of a trend as fewer people are 'collecting' friends on Facebook and want to interact more with fewer people. Path is a new-ish photo sharing site that limits your friend base to just 50 - the 50 people you care most about interacting with. Path isn't about building a brand or promoting yourself, as the sweet video on their homepage prompts the user to "Share Life," you get the feeling that Path is more about connecting with close family and friends who really, really care about that 1,563th baby picture you just posted.
Okay, so maybe the world isn't ready for all that - but even Facebook is taking strides towards segmenting friend groups with their "lists" function, which allows users to group friends into various categories - work friends, close friends, family, etc - and limit sharing according to those groups.
I do think that people who have thousands of friends on Facebook (really, who do you think you're kidding?) are insane - I can't imagine keeping up with that newsfeed - and my 409 friends suit me just fine (And you bet I'll be doing a Post-Collegiate Cleanse come January), but I see giant social networking sites as being here for the long haul - with tools built in that allow the user to customize which of their friends views each piece of content they post.
FUN FACT: My Facebook-friend-who-has-the-most-friends award goes tooooooo: Ryan Roemerman, clocking in 2,918 friends as of this writing.
FUNNER FACT: I've never actually met him, but worked on a project for the non-profit he works for, so him friending me was mostly justified ;)
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