I've been having fun with Facebook in recent months. A friend out in Utah finally got me started with this one and I must admit it's been a nice way to interact with far-away friends, reconnect with some others and even meet a few new ones.

I just added the "Wheel of Friends" application and found something pretty interesting.

While I have a lot of friends, I don't have a whole lot of connections between them. This seems quite a bit different from the wheels I've seen on many of my friends' pages.

I wonder what this says about me, as well as about the application itself?

• For starters, I suspect there would be a lot more connections if more of my friends were on the system. For better or worse, among my age group, use of Facebook is somewhat limited.
• I'd probably have even more linked people if I were in a more stable work situation. As an independent consultant I tend to have a lot more one-off business relationships than somebody in a regular workplace with lots of colleagues who know each other.
• That said, I've got to think that this is at least somewhat reflective of my reality. I have lots of friends and acquaintances, but I seems to accumulate them in the oddest of places. I don't have lots of "groups" of friends. In fact, I'm one of those people who finds hanging out in groups to be at least a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes, very uncomfortable. (This tendency has definitely cost me a relationship or two recently.)

I think this is part of the unstated power of social networks. They can help you notice and figure out things about yourself that you may not have been inclined to even consider had you not had it displayed for you in such a concise and well-presented manner.

-btc