Facebook Users Have More Real Friends

Facebook friends aren’t real buddies, right? Wrong, according to a new study. People who use the social network multiple times a day have an average of “9% more close, core ties in their overall social network compared with other internet users,” the Pew study says. And yes, they have actually met almost all their Facebook friends: Only 7% of their friend list consists of people they’ve never spoken to in real life, Mashable reports.

Other newly emerged social networking stats:

• Those on Facebook get more support, companionship, and “instrumental aid”—when they’re sick, for example, friends lend a hand.
• Facebookers are also more politically involved than other people on the Internet: Those on the site several times daily are 2.5 times more likely to go to a meeting or rally, 57% more likely to affect another’s vote, and 43% more likely to say they’ll vote, notes Politico.
• Today’s average American Internet user spends almost 16% of his or her online time on social networking sites, compared to 8% in July 2007; social networking has jumped 25% over the past year.

(More Facebook stories.)