What is a Friend

I like many of you, am active on Twitter and Plurk and to a certain extent on Facebook. On Plurk and Twitter we "follow" and are "followed" by various people. On Facebook people your follow are designated as your "friends". Are these people really your friends or are they just people you know or "know of"?

Webster's Dictionary lists many definitions of what a friend is, one being "one attached by affection of esteem," and another being "acquaintance," and even the very loose definition of a friend being "one that is not hostile."

In some way I guess what we all experience on the social networks of the inter-webs in some way falls into one of the definitions of friendship or being a friend.

To me, a friend is more than a mere acquaintance. In my mind a real friend is someone that shares some common interests, has similar values, and above all sticks with you and supports you in thick and thin, even though they may not agree with everything you do, and in the same respect tell you honestly that you screwed up.

Maybe it's because of my strict definition of what is a friend that I've never really had that many close friends beyond childhood. I've been reluctant to form too many friendships because I've gotten let down by people whom I've thought were friends but were really only acquaintances.

As for me and social networking....I have 70 followers on Plurk and over 100 followers on Twitter and probably that many "friends" on Facebook, but out of those people I probably have really only 3 or 4 close friends, people that I truly can depend on and trust, and maybe a couple others that I might consider friends but not close friends. Everyone else, I like or share interests with, they are more what I would consider acquaintances.

I do wonder how typical this is sometimes. Do others find it easier to form "friendships" online with people? Am I too picky?