"Meet my 5,000 New Best Pals" Response

After reading Janet Kornblum's article about how people on Myspace add a million friends to their friends list, I think about how many friends I actually do have. Why add people who I have no idea who they are? They wouldn't be called "friends" then, in the real world. They would just be other people I am adding to a friends list who are total strangers, which really defeats the purpose of a Myspace or Facebook. Of course, I have people added to my Facebook who I do not talk to at all and wouldn't consider my "friend"; however, I add these people because I knew them at some point in my life and feel as though they should be added. I do not just randomly add people who I've never spoken two words in real life before though. That would just be ridiculous. The social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace can actually hurt someone's social skills by adding random people, but I think they can also help as well. Getting to know friends of friends can help finding jobs, or meeting that special someone. But I wouldn't just add Joe Smith because he looks gorgeous in his picture; he's still someone I have never seen or spoke to before.