I had heard there was a 5k friend limit on Facebook. I just didn't take it to heart. Until I reached 5k and tried to add 5001., at which point FB reminded of the limit.
It was a weird moment ,but actually one that I have come to respect and appreciate. Facebook went from being a way to broadcast information to 5k people, probably 4k of which I didn't know or even have a business link to, to a platform I either had to take seriously or walk away from.
I try to have open lines of communications with anyone who is interested in The Mavs, HDNet, HDNet Fights, 2929 Entertainment, Radical Buy or any of the many other businesses I'm associated with. If they had a question, I wanted to be able to at least acknowledge it, if not answer it. My email address, mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com is readily available across the net.
What I had not accounted for was that there were a lot of people who I had never met or had any connection to, who took the concept of FB "friending" literally. They wanted to interact as if we were long time friends. I was getting FB emails asking me how i was doing. What I was up to tonight. What did i think of X, Y, Z. Stuff that I was not going to tell a total stranger, even if they were my FB "friend"
So I started paring down "my friends". Based on where they lived, or what friends we did or didn't have in common, who they worked for and whether or not I thought there could be some, or any common ground. It was kind of a bizarre process of deciding who i didn't want as a :"friend". I actually felt bad "cutting" people from my friend list, but I really didn't have a choice.
i also had to make decisions on the 100 plus new friend requests I get per day. Could this person really be my friend ? Could this person really be someone i do business with ? Did I actually know this person ?
Its kind of a bizarre process of clicking on ignore and deleting friend requests. To any of you who I have deleted or ignored. Its nothing personal.
My new FB strategy is not exclusively about "friends" in the truest sense of the word. Its about three layers of "friends"
The first layer has my real friends. Those people who who I have actually met in real life and who I enjoy keeping in touch with. FB provides a great way to keep up with things with them via pictures, notifications, etc.
The 2nd layer is people who I have tangential connections to. They may just live in Dallas Fort Worth. They may be self proclaimed Mavs or MMA or movie fans, or in groups I'm in. For whatever reason there is something about them that I could connect to.
The 3rd layer is emerging as a very unique and interesting network in FB.
Its what I will call "The Power Layer." These are people who in whatever industry they are in , retain some level of power. Having them as FB friends, although very simple and non committal, gives me some level of access to them, and them to me. These are people that if they sent me a FB mail, i would certainly read and respond to , and I think they would do the same.
Its what I could also call the one shot layer. If you have an idea or thought, you get 1 shot, per year to get their attention. Anything more than that probably could and would get me deleted. Everyone at this layer gets pitched continuously. Myself included. If you abuse it, you lose it.
I honestly was shocked at how many people that I really respect in the business world are on FB. It will be interesting to see if big business networking flourishes on FB or if participation on FB is just a way for "the Power Layer" to get a better understanding of, and to keep track of what is happening in the FB universe
My New Facebook Strategy and the FB Power Level
Recent Posts
- Beating Google ? (5/14/2008)
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Haha, life is funny hey. Feeling bad about unfriending someone you have never met........Off to see if you are still my 'friend'.
I didn't even get you bug you about letting Nash get away.
Posted at 11:52PM on Dec 18th 2007 by Ryan
3. I think some new words are in order. Friend is too good of a word to throw around so casually in cyberspace. Friendship is earned over time, mutually. How many emails back and forth would constitute the beginning of a friendship?
Posted at 12:13AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Bob Wegener
4. - heh -
am I the only person who has these levels in real life also?
- I got the 'power people' then real friends - then occasional friends ...
- mark i would be interested in your valuation of FB ...
certainly not 250mill .. ?
Posted at 12:28AM on Dec 19th 2007 by paintless dent repair tools
5. So Mark, what do you think of XYZ?
Posted at 1:13AM on Dec 19th 2007 by J. Jesus Ruiz
6. Glad I made the cut.
I know awhile back I heard that Facebook might be working on a way to segment your friends into groups--similar to the way you did--and customize your interaction with each. That way, you could have a friend group for business contacts, actual friends in real life and one for people who are fans of your business/blog but who don't actually know you. I wonder if that is still in the works.
It would be nice to sort through all the clutter and organize your contacts in there.
7. One shot, per year, per player.
I like it. A lot.
Posted at 1:24AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Dave Doolin
8. Hi Mark,
You should make a Facebook Fan Page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
For example, I'm a fan of Kevin Smith and reddit. I don't personally know Kevin Smith, but I'm giving him permission to market to me because I like his films.
It is a good way for public figures to be more open and interactive.
There is already a Dallas Mavericks Fan Page. A little empty though.
http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=16555485460
Posted at 1:56AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Parveen Kaler
9. “Researchers learned that while people perceive someone who has a high number of friends as popular, attractive and self-confident, people who accumulate “too many” friends (about 800 or more) are seen as insecure.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/style/17facebook.html?ex=1355634000&en=6a7b60a6de4618f1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Posted at 1:58AM on Dec 19th 2007 by joey
10. Cool, glad to have someone else hit that limit. I hit it months ago and now have 1,200 people waiting to have me as a Facebook friend. I've just given up on managing this stuff. Which is just as well cause now I'm getting more work done.
Posted at 3:57AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Robert Scoble
11. You should do as British actor Stephen Fry has done: set up a friendship proxy group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2378158030). He was in the same position as you, as he explained on the group information:
"Dear All
Thank you all for joining. The group was formed as a way of allowing me to switch off the "apply for friendship option" on Facebook. This sounds harsh but 150 requests a day meant I had no time for anything but going through the applications. Some of you _are_ friends of course, and some of you technically aren't, but you're all very welcome to this group, which I hope you'll enjoy: consider membership to be congruent to friendship. I'll look in as often as I can and answer questions if I am able. Thanks for being here, it's stopped me from having to run from Facebook altogether."
Posted at 7:33AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Joe
12. Get over yourself. I also really have to wonder if you spend that much time managing Facebook, what are you not spending time doing in your businesses.
Posted at 9:11AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Reality Check
13. the one shot rule is fair. kinda like a half time show.. make the shot and get to pitch cuban.. but we should get a notification that you read it and we missed so come back next year.. the uncertainty of the read is the killer, not the rejection!!!!
Posted at 9:24AM on Dec 19th 2007 by zwe
14. It sounds like what you are looking for is more like LinkedIn. Like many people, I have two social networks...one of "work friends"--colleagues, co-workers, customers, vendors, advisors, but a different group including friends, family, people with common interests, etc. that have no connection to business.
What would be great would be one social community platform with multiple "realms" that cover different aspects of life.
Also, you can't worry about declining invites from people you don't know. Some folks out there are professional frienders who are competitive over the number they can put up.
Cheers!
Posted at 10:07AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Andrew
15. Hey Mark,
I follow you and your blog because you are a Hoosier...does that make me a friend? FB is great and I have only befriended folks on there that I actually know. It has been a great resource to reconnect with people from the past(even old girlfriends) and people who I see occasionally throughout the year. FB can suck time from more important things, so really don't concentrate on "friends" very much. I use LinkedIn for the business network side of things and think it has been a useful tool for our company in finding talent for recruiting purposes. I see you haven't spent much time on that account--I'll try to connect with you there and see what happens.
I like your idea of One Shot--I will try to connect with you on LinkedIn to get mine! It has to do with a $6B industry that is still in it's wild west days...
Thanks for your time and attention!
16. Thanks Mark. I now have a new goal in life: secure a spot in "The Power Layer".
Posted at 10:51AM on Dec 19th 2007 by Andrew Helms
17. Was "the Donald" one of the ones paired?
Posted at 10:57AM on Dec 19th 2007 by randy blair
19. A new sports community for sports fans. Come see www.crowdpicks.com and pick your favorite nba,hockey,nfl,mlb,nascar,ncaabb, and ncaafb teams to win. Invite friends and keep them in your friends list to chat back and forth with them while at the sametime building your sports cred.
Posted at 12:51PM on Dec 19th 2007 by Timothy Cederdahl
20.
from a usability perspective, if you were to launch a new linking tool, our network will now allow you to classify new friends not annoyingly like FB ("did you work with this person? where?" etc) but allowing them to segregate into various classes of users based on the framework you outlined above.
we're using the word "circle". you can start "circles" out of various friends, basically making an alias for sharing or broadcasting to specific friend "segments". also, everyone will have a WIDE CIRCLE, an INNER CIRCLE and now, thanks to this post, a POWER CIRCLE :) We also are going to create a network-wide CIRCLE OF TRUST, which will allow users to "vouch" for one another in order to unlock more privileges for more trusted users.
planning these kinds of systems is totally science fiction. i love it, this is the stuff Heinlein wrote about in "the moon is a harsh mistress". i digress :)
- s
Posted at 1:06PM on Dec 19th 2007 by Srini Kumar
1. Something very cool about FB (and blogging) is how it connects me with people (like you, and a few others) who I really enjoy learning from.
I had actually emailed an author I respect greatly (who has sold millions and millions of business books)and was SO surprised when my phone rang a few minutes later with a NY area code (my contact info was in my email). I picked up. It was him!
He had visited my site, saw a few things I was doing, and offered to give me some free pointers if I'd have them (uh, YES?)
That would have never happened in a pre-web 2.0 world! And I appreciate you answering a business question I had several months ago. Thanks for all you do.
Posted at 11:38PM on Dec 18th 2007 by Anne Jackson