My friends have more friends

YouGov
March 21, 2011, 2:24 AM GMT+0

A quick scan of social media pages will leave most of us wondering how other quite ordinary people can drum up enormous tallies of Facebook friends, and develop Twitter followings to rival minor celebrities. Today it is not enough to develop a loyal circle of friends, you are invited to demonstrate your own popularity in cold hard numbers.

It is not surprising that our responders seemed a little insecure about their own ability to form friendships in comparison with others.

Seven in ten responders thought that their friends had more friends than they did. Women were more anxious about the scale of their social circle than the men. Younger responders were even more convinced that they were missing out on social connections. Eight in ten of the 16-34 age group were convinced that they enjoyed fewer friendships than their friends.

Happily the 55+ age groups seem more secure in their social network. Only 58 percent thought their circle of friends didn’t match up to their friends'.