Because friends can always view an entire user’s profile, it is important to find out how
people choose their friends on Facebook. Those surveyed were given choices of a variety of
levels indicating how much interaction they have had with users whom they befriend and accept
as friends. Close friends from university and high school have been asked and befriended by
96% percent of users surveyed. Friends that are not close friends have been added as friends for
over 80% of participants. 54% of participants selected that they have accepted friends on
Facebook whom they wouldn’t consider friends, 44% selected that they have asked users who
aren’t friends to be Facebook friends. Figure 3 summarizes our results. In general, participants
were more lenient when accepting friends than asking other users to be their friends. We expect
that friends on Facebook are chosen and accepted much more readily than outside of Facebook.
Although they are referred to as friends, the trust level of Facebook friends may be different than the trust level of friends outside of Facebook. We believe that a large percentage of users may not make this distinction. The possibility exists that users do not make the best decisions for their situation as to what information to allow their friends on Facebook to see