The facelessness of Facebook

So this morning I have a gazillion friend requests - ok, an exaggeration of course but yes, you get my point, I have several friend requests from:

• people I don't know
• people I don't remember - yes that happens with age
• people with whom I won't know what to say beyond ' oh hi, its been a long time...'

Do I actually add them as a friend simply because they have requested me to do so on Facebook, or can I simply press the ignore button without feeling absolutely guilty? Chances are most of these people would walk past me on the street without even knowing it was me. Why then should I bestow on them the title of friendship in a public space?

I do want to keep in touch and even in some cases get re-acquainted with people who I have not seen for a while, and I will be the first to admit that Facebook does offer that, and it is pretty cool. But I certainly don't have or want two hundred friends in real life - yes, I do know a lot of people, but I am talking about real friends not acquaintances. Could of course write a whole other post on what is friendship, but no, won't go down that route. Bottom line is my friendships are important to me and so don't come easy, whether on-line or off-line.

I think Facebook should have 'classifications' of friendships that people can graduate to over time. Better still they should allow you to create your own classifications. Hmm, can just imagine some. Could even have a 'previous-friend-but-now-sworn-enemy' category - my, my, would that beg a juicy tale or two? In one click of a button you could tell people where exactly they fall - and even better find out where you yourself are 'classified'.

Anyway, will try and over come my irrational fear of pressing the ignore button, and check mid-week to see how many people have withdrawn or deleted their requests because of this post. Lol!