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
Dec 18th 2007 10:33PM
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
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61. Dear Mark,
the same thing is happening to me now in my facebook account.
At the same time that i respect this I\’m trying to find a solution for the readers to still have access to my work.
My webmaster sent me your article and I found it very interesting.
Thank you for sharing
Paulo
Posted at 10:48AM on Jan 30th 2008 by Paulo Coelho
62. This real interesting to hear from people who are at the other end of the scale to me – just starting out with FB and wanting to connect with as many people as possible. Hopefully to make friends and strategic partners.
I can only guess what it must be like saying no to people right now!
Posted at 2:15PM on Feb 8th 2008 by Tim Baxter
63. The 5,000 person limit is something that not many people encounter, but your concern with classifying \”friends\” is something interesting that everybody encounters. Social networks have changed what it means to be a friend. Somebody you do business with isn\’t necessarily your friend, but you do have a relationship with them. While you separated your FB friends into different layers, I actually like to use separate social networks for personal and professional relationships.
For personal, I use FB. I don\’t do much business with my old friends from high school and college. I use http://www.konnnects.com for my professional social networking. I like keeping my relationships separated, like you, because of the differences in those relationships. Whereas I might have a more risque pic on FB, I use a more professional pic for business. That Konnects website is business focused so it is easier to maintain the business aspect of those relationships.
Just thought I would throw down my thoughts. Good post though about the \”power level\” friends.
Posted at 5:55PM on Mar 6th 2008 by PH
64. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR DISTRICT OF HAWAII AT HONOLULU HI AT 300 A M BLVDMAY DECIDE IF ANY CANDIDATE OR HOPEFUL IN GOP OR DEMOCRAT WITH ALLEGATIONS OF FLONY CRIME VIZ JOHN MCCAIN FOR FEMALE BEAUTY LOBBYIST FOR USE OF HIGH LEVEL INFLUENCE PEDALLING WHILE MCCAIN AS U S SENATOR (A REPUBLICAN) HILLARY WITH WHITE WATER R/E SCANDAL WHEN BILL WAS A POWERFUL GOVT EMPLOYEE AT ARKANSAS; B hUSSAIN OBAMA WITH SUBSTANTIAL R/E BAGAIN DEAL OF HIS OWN HOUSING IN ILLINOIS COULD BE NOMINATED WITHOUT CLEARANCE FOR HIOGH OFFICE AS U S PRESIDENT WITHOUT PROPER U S SENATE HEARING OF NOTED U S SENATORS ON ALLEGATIONS OF FELONY CRIME, AS U S SENATE IS AUTHORIZED TO HOLD HEARING ON PULIC ISSUES ON COMPLAINTS OF NATIONAL INTERESTS ISSUES; THE REV DR KAMAL KARNA ROY DEMAND PUBLIC HAERING ON ALLEGED MISCONDUCT OF SENATOR NOW IN OFFICE AS U S SENATORS, ON A GRIEVANCE PETITION TO U S SENATE TO ENQUIRE SUITABILITY OF EACH OF THE SENATOR , ACCIDENTALLY GETTING JOB OF U S PRESIDENT BY CONCEALING CORUPT ALLEGATIONS , THEN ONE DAY IF INDICTED, TRIED AND FOUND GUITY THE SENATOR NOW ,US PREDENT THEN, HAS TO GO TO JAIL HOUSE BY LEAVING WHITE HOUSE; IN THE EVENTUALITY USA SUFFERS DEMOCRATIC PAINS, DEMOCRATIC HARMS AND DEMOCRATIC DAMAGES INCLUDING DAMAGES WILL INCUR ON THE REV DR KAMAL ROY THE MR CLEAN AS DEMANDING TO BE NOMINATED AS ALMOST MR CLEANEST AMONG THE HOPEFULS NOTED. tHE COURT WAS REQUESTED TO ISSUE INJUNCTIVE ORDER ON REPUBLICAN PARTY U S NATIONAL COMMITTEE AT WASHINGTON DC , USA GOVT , CANDIDATE MCCAIN, CANDIDATE HILLARY, CANDIDATE B HUSSAIAN OBAMA ET AL , 435 DEFENDANTS SO THAT ALLEGED SENATORS MUST HAVE CLEARANCE ON SUITABILITY ON CANDIDATES SO WE THE PEOPLE IN USA MAY DECIDE WHO THE LOW LEVEL CORRUPT POLITICIAN WE MAY VOTE TO U S PREDIDENCY 2008. ALSO MISC ISSUES RAISED FOR INJUNCTION TO POSTPONE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PENDING HIGH LEVEL INVESTIGATION ON VIOLATIONS OF U S ANTI TRUST LS=LAWS PROHIBITING INDUSTRIAL PRODUCES FO CURBING ELECTORAL COMPETITION FOR PRESIDENCY , U S 2008 AS ALLEGED BY DR ROY THAT NEWS MEDIA IN US AND POWERFUL INDUSTRIAL GIANTSIN NEWS INDUSTRY DID INFRINGE U S ANTI TRUST LAWS IN THE CLOAK OF FREE PRESS IN USA, THOSE WERE BY VIOLATING DEFACTO CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS BY PROVIDI
NG BILLIONS OF U S & PUBLICITY FOR CERTAIN CANDIDATES THEY CHOSE TO PROMOTE, sAY THE NEW YORK TIMES PUBLISHED YOUNG LOVELY FACE OF YOUNG 27 YRS OLD YOUNG LADY TO PROMOTE SUPERIORITY OF HILLARY. THOUSANDS OR SUCH INCIDENT OCCURRED WHEN A MAJOR PARTY, REPUBLICAN VIZ THE REV DR KAMAL ROY FOUND NO COLUMN PRINTED IN ANY MAIN STREAM NEWS MEDIA.ONLY U S COURT CAN DECIDE IF AND HOW CORRUPTION TOOK PLACE TO DAMAGES CHANES OF WINNING U S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL COMPETITIONS. DR ROY CLAIMED 1.73 TRILLIONS OF U S 7 IN COMPENSATION ,PUNITIVE AND COMPENSATORY FO VIOLATIONS BY RICH , INFUENTIAL PEOPLE, INDUSTRY AND THE RICHEST GOVT IN UNIVRSE, POSSIBLY BEYOND DEMOCRATIC GLOBE, AS WE ARE UNWARE IF DEMOCRACY KIND GOVT SYSTEM MAY EXIST INANY PLANET OR SATELLITE OF A PLANET WHICH CONTAINED HUMAN_ANIMAL LIKE CIVILIZATION AND/OR GOVT AND/OR MORE WORTHY THAN US $. SEE BELOW;
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Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 06:20:27 -0500
To: mondoldipali@yahoo.com
Subject: REV MS ATREYEE SEN ROY asked us to send you this post from Blog Maverick
From: ROBIN1231@HOTMAIL.COM Add Mobile Alert
From: Blog Maverick
URL: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2007/12/18/my-new-facebook-strategy-and-the-fb-power-level/
Sent from: REV MS ATREYEE SEN ROY (ROBIN1231@HOTMAIL.COM)
Sent to: mondoldipali@yahoo.com
Comments: WE WANT NO CORRUPT OR ALLEGED AS CORRUPT BUT INVESTIGATION AGAINST SUCH PERSONS CONTINUING BY AUTHORITIES IN USA , TO BE OUR NOMINEES IN GOP/ DEMOCRAT NOMINATION TO B HELD AT NEXT NOMINATING CONVENTIONS AS OUR U S PRESIDENT MAY WIND UP IN CORRECTIONAL HOUSES DURING TERMED YEAR IN U S PRESIDENCY. AS TH GOP/DEMOCRAT ARE NATIONAL POLITICAL ORGNSAND THEY ARE MANAGED BY WE THE POPL IN USA,DR KAMAL ROY ALLGED IN U S D COUT FOR DISTRICT OF HAWAII AT HONOLULU HI , PETITIONED COURT (WING OF U S GOVT ) WITH GRIVANCE THAT POLITICAL PROCESS IS VIRTUALLY AUCTIONED TO SELECTED PERSON OF ELITES WITH INFLUENCE OF MONEY, POWER OF HIMAN_GOD/S, DEMOCRATICALLY CONCRIVED ND CUSTOM MADE AND FULLY MAN MADE GOD/S CONCEIVED IN CENTURIESOF CIVILIZATIONS OF HUMN_ANIMALS. DEMOCRATIC GOD/S HAD BEEN MADE TOOLS OF EXPOITATIONS IN ELECTION TO DEFEAT RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF WEAKER PEOPLE IN U S PRESIDENTIAL RACE, WHICH IS A LEGAL COMPETITION AMONG U S BORN CITIZENS, WHICH WAS A LEGALLY OFFENSIVE WAY VIZ USING CHURCHES, MOSQUES, TEMPLES BY FINANCIALLY ELITE CANDIDATE/ OR GROUP TO PROMOTE A CANDIDATE : GOD/S WERE USED AS INFLUENCE PEDELLING TOOLS TO CATCH GOD FEAR GOOD CTIZANS; U S NEWS MEDIA WERE VIOLATING U S ANTI TRUST LAWS PROHIBITION AND RESTRICTIONS TO CURB ELCTION OUTCOME IN FAVOR OF SOME ELITE AS CANDIDATE OF U S PRESIDENCY, VIZ ONE CHELSEA CLINTON\’S YOUFUL FACE AND DESCRIPTION OF HER YOUTHFUL AND EYE_CATCHING FACTS WERE EXHIBITED AS NEWS ITEMS TO PROMOTE HILLARY;S CHANCES TO WIN LECTION , WHICH FACT WAS EXPECTED TO DAMA! GE CHANC ES OF MR CLEAN TH REV DR KAMAL, A MR, AT SCHEDULED ELECTION: SO INJUNCTIONS WERE PRTITIONED IN ELECTION MATTERS ON USA GOVT, POLITICAL PARTIES. VIZ GOP, TO INCLUDE A PRAYER THAT CORRUPT LEADERS OR ALLEGEDLY CORRUPT LIKE MCCAIN, HILLARY,B HUSAIN OBAMA B BARRED FROM ELCTION AND GOP/DEMOCRATS CONVENTIONS SCHEDLE MUST LOOK FOR MR CLEAN OFMR /MS CLEAN VIZ DR. THE REV KAMAL ROY AS NOMINNEE OF GOP FOR U S PRESIDENT NEXT RELEASED BY REV MR PREMANSHU R DAS, REFORMNS SPECIALIST FOR ALL ASSOCIATESOR DR KAMAL ROY CANDIDATE: FOR NATIONAL PRIORITIES ISSUES ABOVE NOTED. CANDIDATE ROY CAN BE CONTACTED BY E MAIL ID VISHWA_DH@YAHOO.COM OR PO BOX 1173 SARANAC LAKE, NEW YORK 12983, USA.
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Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 06:20:27 -0500
To: mondoldipali@yahoo.com
Subject: REV MS ATREYEE SEN ROY asked us to send you this post from Blog Maverick
From: ROBIN1231@HOTMAIL.COM Add Mobile Alert
From: Blog Maverick
URL: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2007/12/18/my-new-facebook-strategy-and-the-fb-power-level/
Sent from: REV MS ATREYEE SEN ROY (ROBIN1231@HOTMAIL.COM)
Sent to: mondoldipali@yahoo.com
Comments: WE WANT NO CORRUPT OR ALLEGED AS CORRUPT BUT INVESTIGATION AGAINST SUCH PERSONS CONTINUING BY AUTHORITIES IN USA , TO BE OUR NOMINEES IN GOP/ DEMOCRAT NOMINATION TO B HELD AT NEXT NOMINATING CONVENTIONS AS OUR U S PRESIDENT MAY WIND UP IN CORRECTIONAL HOUSES DURING TERMED YEAR IN U S PRESIDENCY. AS TH GOP/DEMOCRAT ARE NATIONAL POLITICAL ORGNSAND THEY ARE MANAGED BY WE THE POPL IN USA,DR KAMAL ROY ALLGED IN U S D COUT FOR DISTRICT OF HAWAII AT HONOLULU HI , PETITIONED COURT (WING OF U S GOVT ) WITH GRIVANCE THAT POLITICAL PROCESS IS VIRTUALLY AUCTIONED TO SELECTED PERSON OF ELITES WITH INFLUENCE OF MONEY, POWER OF HIMAN_GOD/S, DEMOCRATICALLY CONCRIVED ND CUSTOM MADE AND FULLY MAN MADE GOD/S CONCEIVED IN CENTURIESOF CIVILIZATIONS OF HUMN_ANIMALS. DEMOCRATIC GOD/S HAD BEEN MADE TOOLS OF EXPOITATIONS IN ELECTION TO DEFEAT RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF WEAKER PEOPLE IN U S PRESIDENTIAL RACE, WHICH IS A LEGAL COMPETITION AMONG U S BORN CITIZENS, WHICH WAS A LEGALLY OFFENSIVE WAY VIZ USING CHURCHES, MOSQUES, TEMPLES BY FINANCIALLY ELITE CANDIDATE/ OR GROUP TO PROMOTE A CANDIDATE : GOD/S WERE USED AS INFLUENCE PEDELLING TOOLS TO CATCH GOD FEAR GOOD CTIZANS; U S NEWS MEDIA WERE VIOLATING U S ANTI TRUST LAWS PROHIBITION AND RESTRICTIONS TO CURB ELCTION OUTCOME IN FAVOR OF SOME ELITE AS CANDIDATE OF U S PRESIDENCY, VIZ ONE CHELSEA CLINTON\’S YOUFUL FACE AND DESCRIPTION OF HER YOUTHFUL AND EYE_CATCHING FACTS WERE EXHIBITED AS NEWS ITEMS TO PROMOTE HILLARY;S CHANCES TO WIN LECTION , WHICH FACT WAS EXPECTED TO DAMA! GE CHANC ES OF MR CLEAN TH REV DR KAMAL, A MR, AT SCHEDULED ELECTION: SO INJUNCTIONS WERE PRTITIONED IN ELECTION MATTERS ON USA GOVT, POLITICAL PARTIES. VIZ GOP, TO INCLUDE A PRAYER THAT CORRUPT LEADERS OR ALLEGEDLY CORRUPT LIKE MCCAIN, HILLARY,B HUSAIN OBAMA B BARRED FROM ELECTION AND GOP/DEMOCRATS CONVENTIONS .
Comment by THE REV. DR KAMAL KARNA KARUNA ROY AKA JOSEPH JR -
The 5,000 person limit is something that not many people encounter, but your concern with classifying \”friends\” is something interesting that everybody encounters. Social networks have changed what it means to be a friend. Somebody you do business with isn\’t necessarily your friend, but you do have a relationship with them. While you separated your FB friends into different layers, I actually like to use separate social networks for personal and professional relationships.
For personal, I use FB. I don\’t do much business with my old friends from high school and college. I use http://www.konnnects.com for my professional social networking. I like keeping my relationships separated, like you, because of the differences in those relationships. Whereas I might have a more risque pic on FB, I use a more professional pic for business. That Konnects website is business focused so it is easier to maintain the business aspect of those relationships.
Just thought I would throw down my thoughts. Good post though about the \”power level\” friends.
Comment by PH -
This real interesting to hear from people who are at the other end of the scale to me – just starting out with FB and wanting to connect with as many people as possible. Hopefully to make friends and strategic partners.
I can only guess what it must be like saying no to people right now!
Comment by Tim Baxter -
Dear Mark,
the same thing is happening to me now in my facebook account.
At the same time that i respect this I\’m trying to find a solution for the readers to still have access to my work.
My webmaster sent me your article and I found it very interesting.
Thank you for sharing
Paulo
Comment by Paulo Coelho -
I think you need a face book or website that is exclusively for fans. They can email you all day but you are a star and do movies, TV shows and have so much media coverage on the MAVS that you can\’t possibly be friendly to everyone. You probably have 5000 just \”friends\” that you associate with that fill your face book. The fans need their own page. You probably had bloggers and Mav fans and people who heard of you join your face book just because they though it was a fan site. You could send an automated email to the \”fans\” when they try to join the Face book page. Then you could post things on your fan site such as pictures, shows such as Dancing with the Srars and movies and never answer anyone. People have their lifes separate when you are that popular. You can\’t befriend and email the world.
Comment by Laura -
They should probably have a different term than Friends for people just using Facebook for business I suppose!
Comment by Internet Junkie -
I have a musician friend in Nashville who readily exclaims, \”Facebook is for business, not friends.\”
Comment by Todd -
I was one of the ones you dropped. I can live with that I guess. I mostly just added you as my friend to encourage you to buy the Cubs.
Comment by Patrick Sievert -
wow great link doesnt work
Comment by Myspace Codes -
Hey Mark,
Merry Christmas! First time reading your blog and wanted to quickly comment that I enjoyed your Success and Motivation series. Hopefully, I\’ll be in your league soon enough.
As far as FB\’s layers don\’t you think LinkedIn has captured that concept especially for business networking? Their use of \”degrees of connection\” offer that organization that you are talking about. I think it might be a little too late for FB to establish themselves as a one stop for all aspects of networking. Their progression from opening up to colleges to high schools and then to the general public has turned it into a carnival of sorts. I don\’t think business professionals can achieve the same experience from FB as they can with something like LinkedIn. Don\’t get me wrong I love staying in touch with old college acquaintances on FB, but it doesn\’t seem like the perfect setting to pitch an idea to anybody?
Thanks,
Santosh
Comment by Santosh Nachu -
Mark — The fighters and the fight community, both boxing and mma, are mainly on MySpace. Amd there is no friends\’ limit there, either. I rarely use my Facebook account, but am on MySpace a lot. Check it out when you can: http://myspace.com/nhbnews. Thanks, Eddie
Comment by Eddie Goldman -
Mark,
Although the 5K limit can be annoying for famous people or people wishing to \”promote\” via the facebook platform, I think it makes sense. If you look at one of the reason myspace has become a spam infested mess, it\’s because of all the robots and friend adders.
The professional image of facebook is so much greater than any other social networking site (except maybe Linkedin). I hope these guys keep it this way too. Great idea on layering your friends.
Jeremy
Comment by Jeremy Enke -
I was under the impression that Facebook was for teenie bops, but I guess I\’m wrong! I stumbled upon your blog here and I\’m really enjoying it. Keep on posting!
Comment by Tara -
Yo Mark since you\’re a very successful business man come and tackle the music biz, also wondering do you have a myspace page, hope yall make it all the way this yr in the NBA, PEACE
Comment by TRON -
This is a great post, I\’ve had the same problems. I will use this post in my day to day interaction.
Comment by Amule -
Facebook provides an interesting reversal to the \’norm\’, allowing us to pay greatest attention to those at the periphery of our concentric \’contacts\’ rings. Power Level must be like olden days of country church bells, seldom rung but holding a message to hear, translate (\’gather\’, \’danger\’, \’rejoice\’, etc), and act accordingly.
Comment by Mike P -
Mark –
I have posted to your blog, I have sent you emails and you have replied to my emails – does that make us \”friends\”? Although I do very much appreciate you taking the time to email me back – I would have to say \”not really\” – I\’d say more like acquaintances. The meaning of \”friends\” these days is blown out of the water like the word \”love\” is. Both words are used so much for everything that I think people have forgotten the true meaning of them. But hey what do I know – I am over the 29 mark from one of your previous blogs – so being 37 I really don\’t know squat!! 🙂
So from an acquaintance I would just like to say Happy Holidays to you and your family!!
James
Comment by James -
What if all friends chose their own category from your list, knowing that you may not agree with it and change it for all to see? that would put a little fun in it all?
Comment by Mitchell -
Intersting… I had no idea facebook had a limit… I wonder if linked as tzd asks, has a limit too…
Cool way to divide the groups… i have to agree with you… good thing though im not in your 5k conundrum..
.
.
.
Comment by wrist watches -
Does Linkedin have a limit?
Comment by tzd -
Happy as a big Mavs fan that I got in before you reached your limit (though I guess I still qualify as a layer 2 person). Any Mavericks related info you put on there is always appreciated.
Comment by Tod -
What is great about adding so many friends on FB is the news feed where you can syndicate our anything you add on your profile to everyone is aware.
I have reconnected with some many long time friends!
Comment by PPC Management -
With all your due respect, it is a \”strategy\” (I\’d rather refer to it as a tactic, as strategy is a too big a word to be used for the subject matter) common with all sage users of Facebook. Only few stupids would use Facebook without any clear \”strategy (if you like)\” on how they would utilize Facebook to their benefit.
Facebook and related social / virtual networks are a phenomena precedent to what visionaries foresee and others do not. What some may refer to as a digital revolution is just not there yet.It is just a start.
And I do not care if Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates visit Facebook everyday or if they are in your friend\’s list or not.
p.s. Nothing personal, I had to post it as I was saddened by the fact that a Billionaire has nothing better to do then write about his Facebook usage tactics.
If I were you, I\’d be thinking about \”changing the damn world\”, \”creating and designing the future\”, \”Ending poverty in the world\” etc.
Comment by Fahad Khan -
I just don\’t get facebook. I don\’t get social networking sites in general. That must mean they are the future since I don\’t get iPods either. Oh, I get mp3 players, but not the extra costs and restrictions of iPods.
However, I just want to thank you for your post on IIG. It brought it to my attention and then I shorted it after researching it. I just hope you don\’t want a commission.
Comment by bill ross -
Mark, you might try a strategy being employed by journalists. See this post: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=133436
Essentially you create a Facebook personal page where you have your true friends–the people who you would like to know where you spent your vacation–and then a second page for business networking and updates on the Mavs, HDNet, etc. The second page can be set up like a corporate page where you collect \”followers\” instead of \”friends.\” It allows you some more flexibility in terms of access and still keeps you connected with your interested audiences. You can post articles, links of importance, announcements and so on.
Best of luck.
Joanna
Comment by Joanna Singleton -
hey mark
ive got 3600 friends, yes lucky me. i was under the impression that i could just start a second account when i reach 5000 rather than making \’hard\’ choices.
david
Comment by david usher -
MarkI found this post via Darren Rowse\’s post on Blog Friends.
I guess the trouble with the \”friend\” metaphor for social networking is that it implies a symmetrical relationship. At Blog Friends, by contrast, we don\’t force relationships into a symmetrical mold: we allow you to track blog posts from (a) your Favourites plus (b) your Favourites\’ Favouriteswe call it your Respect Network.
The point here is that fan relationships tend to be one-way. So if you added Blog Friends to your facebook profile, you\’d probably stack up three hundred odd fans like Darren has pretty quickly. : )
Comment by Luke Razzell -
Overall I am impressed with Facebooks approach to provide an entry point for business to enter the social network space.
With the existing developer platform, which i\’m finding as we integrate a number of our existing products to be the starting of a real avenue for businesses to interact with their market in a more interactive way than we\’ve seen before. And i\’m not talking wolf or vampire bites but real system integrations.
Combined with this their new pages initiative for business which while when using you can tell it\’s in it\’s infancy, will develop nicely.
Having 5k contacts makes for an intense viral experience when you can whip up a facebook business page in 20mins.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6996230804
Comment by Scott MacKenzie -
I hate to say it, but using a social network as a tool to enhance your real life social network is the entire freaking point. I can\’t recommend Jaiku enough for that and have a hard time imagining why anyone in their right mind uses Twitter. I follow 30 friends on Twitter yet I have upwards of 200 following me and I\’m just a lowly tech journalist. Pownce has similar ideas to Jaiku in terms of UI, but they added that layer of privacy so you can send messages to only friends. It isn\’t a perfect tool, then again nothing is. I just want facebook to die already, this coming from someone who has been using it since it launched back when it was the domain of college kids and only college kids.
Comment by Stefan Constantinescu -
You are not using Facebook as it is meant to be used.
Set up a Fan page where there is no arbitrary limit on the number of \”fans\” you can have.
Use your Facebook profile for *real* friends.
Comment by Jamie -
I think this is a very interesting post – I\’ve been trying for a while to wrap my head around this phenomenon. I have found that the different social networks offer this kind of level creation in some way. LinkedIn is the close business relationships, Friendster is (was?) for real friends, Facebook is for those Friendster folks plus people you might meet out and about and actually enjoy hanging out with, and MySpace is for everyone and anyone who you run into.
I have had some funny experiences on LinkedIn where some folks (in a generation a couple years ahead of mine) have turned down friend requests from me despite our having some marginal business interactions. This was the seed of my thought, but I think it would be very interesting to look at how this breaks down along age/business type/goal of the users.
Thanks for starting these discussions. Certainly interesting stuff.
Comment by erich -
Mark,
FB isnt any different than Linkedin in that regard.
the whole point is to only connect with people you know. Im not a \”celeb\” like you, but I certainly get my share of additional \”pings\” on linkedin. That being said. I use linked in to kinda keep in touch on where everyone is.. I think when you get to people you didnt know anyway.. then its more of a \”who really cares\”… and the tool becomes less valuable..
All that being said. I did see \”a popular actor\” on linked in that I\’ve always liked since childhood. and I did \”ping\” him. So im guilty of it a bit as well.
All the best.
Mike
Comment by Mike Verinder -
Mr. Cuban,
An astute business man and visionary you obviously are, considering a number of your moves. I would very much like the opporutnity to present to you my company and overall vision of what I am creating.
If such an opportunity, to present this to you, exists how would I get my company portfolio and information to you and your team?
Gary Thomas – Owner & President
Comment by Gary Thomas -
#8 is right, you can make a celebrity account or some such. I\’ve got Kevin Smith as a friend that way too. I\’d be glad to add you as such a friend… but not as a normal friend since I\’ve never met you. Though you are a dancing fiend and get bonus points for that. Please let us know if you make such an account.
Comment by Adam E -
Oh, guess what, it looks like Facebook released a new feature today that lets you sort your \”friends\” into different groups. Jacob nailed it in comment #6! No more talk; I\’ll have to set up my FB Power Layer list now. 🙂
Comment by Gene Shiau -
I was wondering about how you were managing your Facebook friends. I only caved and signed up for Facebook a month or so ago and when I saw your profile on it linked through a friend I was a little surprised. I was more shocked when a saw that you had thousands of friends. \”Why,\” I thought to myself, \”would Mark Cuban put all of these people in as friends on Facebook.\”
I realize there is the whole Jason Calacanis (and thus, now Leo Laporte) theory of \”friending\” people on Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, etc. but to make a social network like Facebook useful for anything other than marketing, limiting your friends seems the only way to go. Try following more then 300 people on Twitter and you\’ll see what I\’m talking about.
Having said that, even when I saw you had over 4,000 friends, I almost added you as a friend. I\’m a product manager for a digital cinema company and deal with Landmark Theatres. Thought it couldn\’t hurt to have access to the owner of the company, not to mention someone heavily invested in D-Cinema, if I was ever in need of some serious answers or research pertaining to the market.
http://twitter.com/sperling
Comment by J. Sperling Reich -
Mark,
Have you checked LinkedIn.com? This has an good premise for creating business contacts, although it could be developed further, a la FB.
Comment by Jason -
Wow – I had no idea that facebook had a limit – not that I have to worry (lol) none the less ever since reading \”The Tipping Point\” – it\’s interesting to note that whenever a group reaches @150 people it starts breaking into smaller manageable and meaninful groups. The Viral joining on social networks is interesting to watch and I\’m actually questioning the true value. For me the larger it gets the less valuable it becomes (i.e. more expendable and like spam) – It\’s all so interesting to watch evolve – thanks for sharing your thought process.
Comment by Cyndee Haydon -
I like your explanation of FB levels. I\’d be interested in hearing what percentage of friends you \”added\” vs. what percentage \”added you\” initially.
I highly recommend using the friend list capability, where you could break your list down by your levels or a combo of levels/industries.
Comment by Webconnoisseur -
Social networking and marketing will be somehow tied together in the future and so its important to be part of it.
I think there are new opportunties tied up in understanding all of this. The book the Tipping Point, even if written pre social networking, really gets to the core of all this.
That stated, I simply cannot friend someone I don\’t have a professional or personal tie to face to face. I\’m 44 and I run a business and I guess that old value system will keep me out of this loop. But I\’ll try to keep one foot in!
Comment by john Palazzo -
As one of the people that was eliminated; I\’m glad to know that it was nothing personal.
Comment by Joshua R Druce -
I agree with the person that said to make a Fan Page!
Comment by Mark -
How many friends would you need to feel famous?
Comment by PJ -
Mark, this is a valuable suggestion– something I tried to do even back when I organized my contacts in Excel. Beyond this I can think of a number of ways I like to group people (by industry, by the period of my life during which I met them, etc.) and I also like to associated notes or various text fields with each. With that in mind I created a Facebook app that acts like a spreadsheet where each row is one of your friends and you can define the columns. It becomes an easy way to track folks and filter them.
Try it out:
http://apps.facebook.com/rolodexterous/
Comment by Nathan -
Mark,
If you like organizing your friends then you\’ll love Friend Lists –
http://www.facebook.com/friends/
We launched this last night and it allows you to group your friends for easy status updates, messaging, etc.
You should also create a Facebook Page for yourself. This way you can still interact with fans while keeping your Facebook profile to your friends, family, and colleagues.
– Ben
Comment by Ben -
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
Comment by Srini Kumar -
A new sports community for sports fans. Come see http://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.
Comment by Timothy Cederdahl -
Intersting concept the one shot.
A network I particularily use and is extremely good is myragan http://www.myragan.com Since Im in de Media Intelligence Business its very focused in that industry. But it is great for the Power Layer.
Comment by Guillermo -
Was \”the Donald\” one of the ones paired?
Comment by randy blair -
Thanks Mark. I now have a new goal in life: secure a spot in \”The Power Layer\”.
Comment by Andrew Helms -
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!
Comment by J -
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!
Comment by Andrew -
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!!!!
Comment by zwe -
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.
Comment by Reality Check -
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.\”
Comment by Joe -
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.
Comment by Robert Scoble -
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
Comment by joey -
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
Comment by Parveen Kaler -
One shot, per year, per player.
I like it. A lot.
Comment by Dave Doolin -
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.
Comment by Jacob -
So Mark, what do you think of XYZ?
Comment by J. Jesus Ruiz -
– 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 .. ?
Comment by paintless dent repair tools -
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?
Comment by Bob Wegener -
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.
Comment by Ryan -
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.
Comment by Anne Jackson -