Why your friends have more friends than you do

[boingboing]

Originally published at: Why your friends have more friends than you do | Boing Boing

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[ClutchLinkey]

Interesting. I always just assumed it was because they hate people less than I do. /s (but not really, not lately, anyway.)

[Cubist]

And do my enemies have more enemies than I do?

[ClutchLinkey]

Good question! In my experience, highly likely. My enemies are total assholes, whereas I’m just a run of the mill jerk, so, yes, I feel safe in saying that my enemies have more enemies than I do.

[Papasan]

At my age I count myself lucky to still have one good friend, and I have my Dear Wife, so that’s two friends, oh and then there’s my Whiskey doggo, so I guess that a total of three friends. That’s plenty.

Thanks for listening to my Papasan Talk.

[cannibalpeas]

@ClutchLinkey

I always just assumed it was because they hate people less than I do. /s (but not really, not lately, anyway.)

Young Master Peas just asked if I’d ever heard of the Trolley Problem and what I would do. I said that, until a few years ago I would have said sacrifice the fewest. Now, it’s “depends who’s on the tracks”.

[Sludge]

I have more friends, but you have more real friends.

[KathyPartdeux]

It’s about quality.

[anon81034786]

@ClutchLinkey

Interesting. I always just assumed it was because they hate people less than I do. /s (but not really, not lately, anyway.)

[Doctor_Faustus]

In other words: social networks tend to be scale free networks and thus you are bound to have a few friends with high centrality scores.

[Brainspore]

@Cubist

And do my enemies have more enemies than I do?

The LEGO Batman Movie Clip - Greatest Enemy (2017) Will Arnett Animated Movie HD

[MonkeyT12]

Friends on social networks? Because it’s easier to collect baseball cards than it is to meet ballplayers.

[ClutchLinkey]

Well, definitely not a man, so if I have to choose between beast and god, depends on the day, I guess

[Scientist]

Because the distribution of number of friends is heavily skewed since it is bound at zero at one end and unbounded at the other, so the mean is much greater than the median. Which is stats talk for saying that the number of friends the average person has (median) is going to be less than the average number of friends per person (mean)

@boingboing

On Facebook, your friends will have more friends than you have. On Twitter, your followers will have more followers than you do. And in real life, your sexual partners will have had more partners than you’ve had. At least, on average.

All just another way of saying that all these distributions are bounded at zero with a long right tail

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Less sciency, my first two thoughts were “I have fewer friends because I’m a depressed loner that avoids most social contact like the plague” and “keep this in mind, a true fiend is hard to find, so don’t you mind people grinnin’ in your face”

Grinnin' in Your Face

[Melizmatic]

@ClutchLinkey

I always just assumed it was because they hate people less than I do.

Obligatory:

[FGD135]

[dabeyc]

i had many friends in my high school years, and that number steadily got smaller as we all went our own ways. at the age of almost 60 i am down to one close friend, mainly in spirit since we live 3000 miles apart but we are in touch often. and i have my wife of 38 years, my dearest friend. mix in some family members and we have a small happy group. and i am OK with that.

[DreamboatSkanky]

Yes, but I understand that those people are your friends.

[Richard_Kirk]

@cannibalpeas

Young Master Peas just asked if I’d ever heard of the Trolley Problem and what I would do. I said that, until a few years ago I would have said sacrifice the fewest. Now, it’s “depends who’s on the tracks”.

…and now it’s “I’m gonna need a bigger trolley”.

[cannibalpeas]