Needless to say, that tool got denied.

That said, I’ve been generally happy to add anyone I remember. As Tony Blair once said to Catherine Tate, “I’m not bothered.”

…unless I’m a prick like your school friend. (I don’t think Facebook has an option to add a ‘misc’.)

Mind you, I am not just socially inept, oh no! It’s just that I don’t treat the ‘friends’ counter as a gameshow score. That’s my excuse anyway.

I have only 9 friends. And that includes my stamp collection.

The other odd thing about Facebook – and I guess MySpace as well, and Friendster back when it sort-of worked – is that it somehow plays on the anxiety that not being on it at all will seem antisocial in itself. It’s only a very, very minor anxiety, sure, but then it’s only a very minor step you need to take to correct it – so at some point, if you know that a certain critical mass of your friends are on it, then you feel oddly compelled to join too.

Same reason people go to parties, even though they know they’ll be worried about not knowing anyone there and being Johnny No-Mates all night, I suppose.

Facebook, by having just one level of Friend, does at least make the “are they really a friend” question obvious – what always struck me about the “six degrees” was its essential uselessness. Within just two or three degrees of separation, you were overwhelmed by people you had nothing in common with, and who quite frankly looked like total dicktards. That’s where the antisocial thing could come in useful – as you mark down people you don’t like or don’t want to know, it learns your tastes, and so actually can serve the purpose of managing your social network much better.

A sort of Amazon-style “People who thought Jeremy was a twat also wanted to avoid…” feature, is what I mean.