Introduction: one thousand friends

Abstract

The advent of the online world was first and primarily a revolution in information and access to data. We could gain much more information far more effectively and easier than, say, by going to the library, and access to individuals, groups and organizations became far more broadly available and generally cheaper than by phone, post or travel. In more recent years there has been a second revolution online— namely, the rise of social life. Social networking sites have become the predominant use of the internet. Google, for instance, has now fierce competition from Face-book. Facebook is now, together with Amazon, Google and Apple, a formidable force in the market for IT services. At the forefront of social life becoming the predominant use of the internet has been the pursuit of friendships online. In fact, as is now widely recognized, the average user conducts more than one hundred friendships online. Many users have hundreds of friends online and some have over one thousand. Of course, online social network use of the term ‘friend’ does not mean online users are necessarily imagining they have many hundred close companion friends, such as friends with whom one identifies intimately and broadly, rather than, say, narrowly as in friendships merely of pleasure or utility. And plainly, many users are clear enough about the general distinction and navigate the terrain easily—without mistaken or confused views—and so, for instance, have separate accounts divided along the line of their internet and ‘real’ friends. However, it is also plain that for many online users the term ‘‘friend’’ does import aspects and demands of ‘real’ friendship and, so, for instance, when requests to be a friend with another on social networking sites are ignored or denied, its often taken personally—for example, why don’t they want to be my friend? It is also hard to believe that young people—the dominant cohort of social networkers—rarely operate without clarity about the distinction between companion friendship and the appropriation of the term ‘friend’ by social networking sites. All of the articles ahead focus on the question of whether there are obstacles presented by online communication environments for achieving ideal companion friendship. In fact, while some apply their claim only to, say, purely textbased worlds, such as email, and some find obstacles across various different online worlds, including social networking sites, Skype and interactive games, all find much the same kind of obstacle for companion friendship online— namely, limited and distorted information. Indeed, all find much the same kind of limitation and distortion of information online to be the main problem.