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How many friends do you need? When considering your salary, lots of ’em


Friends

A recent scientific study that covered 10,000 people over 35 years determined that people have, on average, 150 friends at any one moment in time.

So what does this mean to you, faithful Web Watch reader?

You’re right – on the surface, not so much.

But if you consider that THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD HAD THE MOST FRIENDS IN SCHOOL, and that for every friend those people had in school – it worked out that each additional friend added an extra 2% in salary to those successful folks.

It’s all because the workplace, like the schoolyard, has certain social structures that those who grew up with a lot of friends have already learned to manuever through.  Those who didn’t have as many friends have to learn on the job, if you will, and will struggle to reach that same networking skill-level as those who started making friends and networking at a much earlier age.

The study went on to calculate that the average circle of 150 friends comes from a core “inner circle” of five closest friends, who bring along an additional 10 people to your friendly circle.

From those 15 people, you can extrapolate an additional 35 on the next layer, and 100 people on the layer outside of that.  It is those 150 people that make up the typical social environment.  Who makes up the grouping of 150 people will shift over time, as friendships fade in and fade out due to workplace environments, family situations, or even where one lives.

Of course, websites like Facebook and Linkedin help to maintain friendships that have been established, but if you really took the time to analyze who you have friended on those sites, how many would you really count as your own friends as opposed to hangers-on who clicked over via their own acquaintances?