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120 - Dunbar's Number
N/A —
... the circle of our interactions is relatively small and stable. We are not afraid of intimacy at least, as we have no problems with streaming our lived through updates, photos to broad audience, but we are not keen on investing in creating more meaningful interactions. I wonder whether we don't use the whole potential social media are
giving us because we can't process it or rather cause aren't interested
in interacting with too many people. Read the whole article on The Economist - Primates on Facebook ...
Small Is Beautiful
Only Dead Fish —
... . Put simply, it makes a difference when everybody knows everybody else. In a recent Economist interview, Facebook's in-house sociologist Dr Cameron Marlow revealed that the average number of friends in a Facebook group, at 120, is remarkably consistent with Dunbar's number. And interestingly, while many people have hundreds friends on Facebook, the number of people who they actively interact and communicate with was remarkably small. The more regular the interaction, the smaller and more stable the group. In other words, networks have enable us to manage all our relationships ...
2009-03-06 Spike activity
Mind Hacks —
Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
The Economist discusses whether the famous Dunbar number, the maximum limit of human relationships, holds on Facebook.
A person who experienced the identity loss memory disorder dissociative fugue is interviewed in The New York Times.
BBC News reports that Malaysia is attempting to curb its suicide rate by planning to arrest those who attempt suicide.
Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel asks what is an illusion, exactly? ...
On Intimacy
Only Dead Fish —
... I'm not surprised at the suggestion that such tools serve to tighten existing close relationships (why would they not?), and it's not the first time I've seen stats that suggest that a highly disproportionate degree of communication happens with relatively few contacts within a group or a network. The study earlier this year by Facebook's in-house sociologist Dr Cameron Marlow showed that whilst the average number of friends in a Facebook group was 120, the number of people with whom people actively interact and communicate with was remarkably small. The more regular the ...
