Facebook Users like Myspace?

I recently read a post by Nick O’Neill on his allfacebook blog titled Do Facebook Users Have a MySpace Mentality?. Basically he was curious if Facebook users are like MySpace users who seek to get as many friends as they can without regards as to whether or not they actually know the person. I, personally, think that’s stupid to do so. I use Facebook to keep in contact with people I actually know. I don’t have a single Facebook friend whom I’ve never met IRL. That could possibly change, but I certainly wouldn’t ever add someone with whom I had no association at all.

Well, Nick posted another entry about a new Facebook app, called One Million Friends. This app is designed to help do exactly what Nick was talking about in his other post. It’s purpose is to help you find as many people that want more Facebook friends as possible. He supposes that this is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service and would soon get taken down. I don’t find anything in the TOS that would disallow it, however, it is an example of exactly what he was talking about. Personally, I don’t understand the desire to appear to have hundreds of friends. However, the beauty of Facebook is that their actions don’t affect me. I can make my privacy settings such that only people in my networks can find me and add me as a friend. I can even make it so that no one can add me as a friend just by searching for me. I think this is great. So, while I think these other people are being a little bit childish, it doesn’t matter to me one bit.