However many friends you may have on Facebook, humans brains cannot cope with more than 150 friendships, according to a recent Oxford study.
Robin Dunbar, who studies social circles and the brain, developed “Dunbar’s number” in the 1990s. He says it is the neocortex, a part of the brain, which limits the size of our social group.
Despite the rise of social networking sites where many members have thousands of friends, the professor of Evolutionary Anthropology insists his theory still holds true today. Preliminary results from his research on the “Facebook effect” looking at Facebook traffic show that even the most sociable people do not really care about more than 150 friends.
Dunbar commented, “People obviously like the kudos of having hundreds of friends.”
He added, “There is a big sex difference though … girls are much better at maintaining relationships just by talking to each other. Boys need to do physical stuff together.”
