We
turned out as such social animals. We all have at least 200 friends
where you share your emotions with, you share your embarrassing
pictures with, that knows everything you like and is there for you
24/7. Sounds like friends forever, right? But how much does these
social media 'friendships' really mean? Can you really call all 200
of them 'your friends'?
Designer
Colin Pinegar took this matter into question and created the Best
Friends
project. He arranged his 451 Facebook friends by value based on
several questions as: “Do
I know this person’s phone number? Can I recognize this person by
their name alone? Do I know where this person live? etc.”, and
rated them with 1-25 points. The higher the score, the closer you end
up on the 'best friend' scale. Pinegar visualized the outcome with
miniature wax busts of himself arranged on a color spectrum. The
higher the score, the darker the color. The value of his social media
friendships certainly became an eye opener: 1% of his 'friends' he
never met, 14% of his 'friends' he didn't recognize by there name
alone, 24% of his 'friend' residence were unknown to him and 55% of
his 'friends' he hadn't even seen from a distance for over a year.
Secretly
we know all to well that 70% of our social media friendships are weak
ties. But why are we putting so much value on our social media
status? That during a real time lunch with a friend we prefer to
check out our latest Facebook updates over a 'real' talk with a
friend who's sitting across the table.
It's
amazing that social media made it possible to be quicker & easier
connected to one another and that news & information never been
shared as fast as now. Digital solidarity is rising, but slowly we
forget the importance of physicality in relationships. That's what's
the Best
Friends
project is about. We put so much effort to feed our cyber friends
with display communication that we reduce in feeding our friends with
physical communication.
Amigo,
vriend, ami, rafiki, freund, friend, all words for the definition: 'a
person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal
regard'. A friend is someone special. But the definition of 'friend'
changed. It's not as powerful as it use to be. Back in the days you
had to earn to be called 'friend'. Noways, thanks to the growth of
social media, the word 'friend' has become like pushing the 'accept'
button. No personal attachments at all. The word friend doesn't sound
so 'special' anymore, it's losing his value,it doesn't fit the
definition of a 'friend' anymore. So which word can reflect the
definition of a 'friend'? How will we call a 'real best friend' in
the future? I think that the word 'friend' will still exist, but that
there will be created a new word for a 'real time best friend'.