Sometime last year, I had a high of 450+ friends on Facebook. It was a source of pride for me, but it was also a lie. I had added people for nostalgic reasons, there are about 40,000 people working for our organization world-wide, so I was accepting any request I got, and I maintain a group that a lot of people wanted to join, so I was requiring anyone who wanted to join to become a friend.
And then I got yelled at at work for too much Facebook and Twitter during work hours. So in one night, I cut the list in half, doing about the same to my list of about 150 followers/followees on Twitter. And only one person who I cut actually asked to be re-added.
Ever since then, I've been really thinking I could do more. How well did I really know the people still on the list, why were they still there, and did they really have a part in my current life?
And so now I stand at a list with 199. But do I really count the 199 as current friends? Do they me?
On the flip side, I've been the catalyst for some interesting introductions between people who have never met. John and Kevin, Jim and Skip, Mark and Joe. Possibly others I'm not even aware of.
So, I'm going to start something new on Facebook. I'm going to use the @ tag and status updates to start introducing people, in case some other connections might come from it. Also, it will be an opportunity for me to take a hard look at who's on my list and whether they should still be there. I'm going to go alphabetically down my "All Friends" page on Facebook. If I add a new friend, I'll give an introduction to them immediately. I'll try to do one a day and Mr. Barnhart, you're up first.
I think it could be fun and would challenge others to join me. So... who's on your list?