In Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope, FirstMonday.org had to use a very weak definition of "friend", i.e., "anyone who a user has directed a post to at least twice." And even if they did, their conclusion was that Twitter users have no real friends. In my older post about Dunbar's number I added a rather strict and personal definition of true friendship, without destinquishing between online and real-life relationships. To me they are the same.Mike Arauz has just come up with a far more subtle Spectrum of Online Friendship because "online friendship is better described along a spectrum defined by the actions people take and how we feel about them." And he does have a few interesting thoughts on online friendships, for example: "In the digital world, none of these behaviors, even dialogue, requires a reciprocal feeling of friendship on your part. I can be your friend without you being my friend."
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