Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Social Networking Revolution

I read today that Facebook has changed the way people relate to each other more than anything else since the introduction of the post office.

Do you think that is true? How has Facebook changed the way you relate to others?

An editorial in today's Straits Times by Robin Dunbar of Oxford University stated that "Emotional closeness declines by around 15 percent a year in the absence of face-to-face contact, so that in five years someone can go from being an intimate acquaintance to the most distant outer layer of your 150 friends."

How does Facebook affect that dynamic? I know it occasionally reminds me of my distant friends, but I am not sure it actually brings many of them closer to me. Maybe if I was better at broadcasting what I am thinking and feeling and doing, it would help others feel more emotionally connected to me. But I have to face it, I am not a broadcaster by nature. I am more interactive and inquisitive in relationships, not a pacesetter or opinion sharer.

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