We got talking in the office yesterday about Facebook, and social networking in general, about how the younger generation has a different set of standards on privacy. The youth of today…

We all have different ways of handling our profile pages; I won’t upload embarrassing pictures or let people swear on my Wall, while some others here (Bayon) are happy to talk in ways that would make a sailor blush, for all to see.

Some won’t add their date of birth, while some will post pictures of their birth taking place. Some won’t list their relationship status, while some will provide pictorial evidence. You get the idea.

It’s the same with friends. Some of the more mature members of staff say that they won’t accept invitations unless they actually know the person, whereas I’ve been known to click yes now and then when a periphery character tries to add me – it’s just easier, and avoids any awkwardness should I ever run into them in the real world.

It got me wondering; is there a correlation between age and the number of Facebook friends a person has? A quick poll here at Pro gave me the Excel chart above. There may not be enough of us to give a true picture, before the statisticians among you pipe up, but I think a trend line would show that there is a slight rise in the number of friends as the age decreases.

Though, to be honest, that’s probably just because of me. With nearly 300 friends it turns out that I’m a bit of a Facebook whore. I’m pretty sure that I’ve met most of those people face to face – maybe my memorable surname makes me easier to track down, who knows? Maybe I need a clear-out.