Friendship means nothing when put in terms of numbers.

VIDEO: Students give their thoughts on friendship.

The fact that “adding” is now a commonplace term in regards to connecting with friends online shows how quantity is the new focus.

People can be “friends” with thousands of complete strangers around the globe.

Surely, Web-based networking does help to reconnect distant friends and sometimes helps in making new ones.

But some of its founding principles have reduced friendship to just being about numbers and labels.

“There is a structure to (friendship), albeit a fluid and changing one,” said social psychology professor Todd Migliaccio. “Ultimately, we are friends with people for specific reasons … but this may change with the increased connections between people via the Internet.”

Some friends are great listeners.

Other friends always give the best advice, and some make awesome party buddies.

Yet instead of fulfilling these roles, some use online friends solely to help them meet their friend list quota.

Gerri Smith, communication studies professor, said MySpace and Facebook have completely altered the way we connect with one another.

“As far as friendship, we’ve gone a little over the top,” she said. “Someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone ends up on my Facebook? It’s so far removed … it doesn’t really constitute a friendship.”

The friendship dynamic that exists now cannot stand up to what online social networks require.

These virtual relationships ultimately impact the unclear definition of who we consider as friends these days.

But more might be merrier, in some cases.

But how merry could it possibly be if the closest interaction you have with a “friend” is “becoming a fan” of the same celebrity?

It is great to have little things like that in common.

But those are just the beginning of forging real connections with people.

These websites should be used to supplement friendships, not replace them.

“The use of the word ‘friend’ is thrown around very loosely and it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what friendship ought to be about,” Smith said.

And if you thought having one best friend wasn’t good enough, MySpace lets users have up to 40 “Top Friends.”

Then when people realize they are not in each others’ “top friends”, grudges erupt and create division among the friendships these sites were intended to strengthen.

Instead of talking out our issues, people lash out by demoting you from “top friend No. 7” to “top friend No. 8” or by “deleting” you altogether.

Friendship maintenance takes more than just keystrokes and mouse clicks.

And it is foolish to think real friendships can survive on status updates and “Like” buttons alone.

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