Erin Pettigrew

Feb 27 2009 LINK
“ People who are members of online social networks are not so much “networking” as they are “broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle.” Humans may be advertising themselves more efficiently. But they still have the same small circles of intimacy as ever.
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A recent piece in the Economist.

More on Dunbar’s number that describes the upper limit of one’s intimate social group. I wonder, then, what happens if you max out your Dunbar number but are constantly meeting new people? Is every marginal addition (a new friend) a marginal loss as well (replaces an old friend)? Do we lose good friends by making new ones? Pessimistic, but, probably.