Jonny Keene has accepted your friend request.

So today yet another random requested my friendship on Facebook. I once again ignored, and sent them to my friend 'waiting room' where 45 others sit. Now if I was to accept those 45, it would only put my grand total at 200. Admittedly that isn't many by some standards, In fact scanning Facebook for two minutes I have managed to find five friends with over a thousand contacts! All of a sudden my 155 seems rather inadequate. It's clear some of us have become friend whores, accumulating hundreds if not thousands of 'loose ends.' I can't help but wonder, is it time for us to defriend?

Now lets backtrack to a rather embarrassing encounter. Whilst attending birthday drinks for a co worker last week I was introduced to a girl by one of my good friends. Unknown to both me and my friend, we had already been introduced. Shaking her hand and telling her my name provoked a fit of the giggles by the girl. Thinking I had something in my teeth, or that a random hair had escaped my lacquered efforts, I became quite self conscious. She then asked me if I was joking! Puzzled I replied, "I'm afraid Jonny is my name and has been for a while." My friend slunk away from the conversation just as the fit of the giggles turned into a rather awkward silence. The awkwardness only got worse when the girl asked me to guess her name. By the way, don't you hate it when people play that stupid guessing game? To cut a long story short we've been introduced not once but twice before, and been Facebook friends for 2 years. It took me a while to also realise that she had dated one of my best friends last year. I know, terrible right? It seems within my 155 friends at least one had been able to remain invisible, and maybe more. What about those of you with friends in the 500 plus region, how many 'loose ends' do you have? Are they such a bad thing?

I personally have developed quite intimate friendships via Facebook with people I'd never have met otherwise. Status updates themselves allow us to share what we've been up to during each others absence. I have spoken to my awkward moment girl a few times since our encounter, and have planned a lunch next week. I might hold off on the defriending for a while.