Just Because You Are On My Facebook Doesn't Mean You're My Friend

Recently I've had a bit of a problem with Facebook.

Everybody you add is given the title of "Friend". I have about 50 people on my list and I wouldn't consider the majority of them as friends. Facebook ought to have other categories besides "Friends". Like "Old Friend" or "Person I Know".

There are two main groups of non-friends that are on my Friend List.

First there are the "Former Friends". These are the people that I used to be friends with. For me this is pretty much everybody I knew when I lived in BC or the people who I went to school with. They were my friends at one time but they aren't REALLY my friends now. I mean I don't send them emails or call them on the phone or write them letters and I really have no desire to. These are people that I will likely never see again and I'm not really bothered by that fact. Having them connected to me on Facebook makes them my Friend? I don't think so.

The other category is "Acquaintances". These are the people that I knew or know, but have never considered as my friends. These are friends of friends and people from work who I've just known. These people could be removed from my list at any given time with little or no impact on myself or them.

I see lots of Friend-Whores on Facebook who have over 500 friends. I think we are devaluing the term "friend". I've decided that my friendship is not something that should be given away haphazardly. I like to keep the value of my friendship high by limiting the quantity that is available to the public. So in order to preserve the integrity of my friendship stock I feel the need to prune my "Friend List". This might hurt some feelings but hey, it's not like they are my friends.