Is Dunbar's number up?

It is a question that plagues every socialite and socialette across the county; how many friends can one person have? Although this may seem like a complicated question with too many factors coming into play such as gender, geography and teenage acne levels, there is actually a simple answer. British anthropologist Robin Dunbar claimed that this number is 150. Beyond this, the brain cannot cope with any more he claims. Of course, this does not include people who you used to be friends with or people who you no longer maintain an inter-personal relationship with. The question I want to ask is do we need to revise this number? Due to the rise of social networking, is this number more like 1500, as would be suggested by the number on many teenagers friends lists?

I recentley re-did my Facebook due to work reasons and for a great opportunity to declutter (which also begs another question; can we now get rid of friends more easily?). In going through my old friends list, I added no less than 200 people who I felt a need to have on Facebook. All of these people I still maintain contact with, even if it is just a Happy Birthday comment once a year (or twice a year, if my friends have kindly taken over my Facebook account!). However, how real is that connection? Does chatting on Facebook account as a social interaction?

I don't think many people would argue that Facebook (and other Social Media outlets of course) don't make it easier to connect with people. Whether you want to or not, you can now keep up with your old schoolmates, work colleagues or distant family at the click of a button. But have a think; are these people really your friends? Can you really call them friends if the only reason you keep in touch with them is because Facebook makes it easier?

My opinion is yes. Just because a friendship is easier, does that make it any less valuable? We are always looking at ways to make our life easier. Remote controls for the TV, washing machines for the laundry and microwaves to cook our food. So why not make our social relations easier? Making them easier means we can have more right?

To sum up, I think Dunbar's number does need to be revised. Of course, there are already theories that put the number around 300, but these do not include the Social Media revolution. This is not to say that Social Media has replaced a social relationship, and in actual fact it can aid them. Facebook, as well as making contact easier online, allows much easier contact offline. Some people may feel sad that our lives are being reduced to the clicking of a button, but they may just have to accept that relationships are one thing to add to the list. If you don't agree, I can just defriend you anyway...

@paulcoffee