Help, It’s a Friend Flood!

A tool that’s all the rage these days within the social networking world is the friend recommendation widget.

Be it Facebook, LinkedIn and, most recently, Twitter, friend recommendation engines are front as centre as social networks try to get people entrenched by encouraging people to build larger personal networks. I guess the idea is the bigger network of friends you have on a particular service, the more useful it becomes and, as important, the more difficult it becomes to leave.

In theory, it’s a great concept. People who use these services get to expand their networks easier and quicker, while service providers get happier and more loyal customers.

The problem, unfortunately, is it’s becoming too easy to expand your network.

With friend recommendation engines becoming ubiquitous, expanding your network requires little work. It’s encouraged people to expand their networks with people with whom they have no or little connection.

As result, we’re in the midst of a friend tsunami. Many people who have been on social networks for awhile can probably attest to the fact they’re getting new friends and followers at a furious rate.

Case in point: While I love Twitter and the fact people find my messages useful, interesting and/or valuable, the number of people following me as taken a curious surge in recent weeks. What’s particularly interesting is they’re coming from around the world and from different sectors.

It’s a nice phenomena but I’m guess that it’s the power of Mr. Tweet’s recommendation engine rather than my Twitter appeal.

It’s not that I’m adverse to having lots of friends, it’s that the high number of new ones recently has is puzzling as much as it’s flattering.

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