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 knowledge to 5k citizens, 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. whether they had a question, I wanted to be able to at least acknowledge it, whether not reply it. My mail address, mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com is readily available across the net.

What I had not accounted for was that there were a lot of humans who I had never met or had any connection to, who took the concept of FB “friending” literally. They wanted to interact as whether we were distant date 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 whether 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 weird process of deciding who i didn’t want as a :”friend”. I actually felt poor “cutting” public from my friend list, but I really didn’t have a choice.

i additionally had to invent decisions on the 100 plus new friend requests I get per day. Could that person really be my friend ? Could that person really be someone i do business with ? Did I actually know that person ?

Its kind of a weird

process of clicking on disregard 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 citizens 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 citizens 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 rare and interesting network in FB.
Its what I will shout “The ability Layer.” These are public who in whatever industry they are in , retain some level of ability. 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 humans that whether they sent me a FB mail, i would certainly read and reply to , and I think they would do the same.

Its what I could additionally signal the one shot layer. whether you have an view 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 that layer gets pitched continuously. Myself included. whether you abuse it, you lose it.

I honestly was shocked at how many society that I really respect in the business world are on FB. It will be interesting to see whether big business networking flourishes on FB or whether participation on FB is just a way for “the potential Layer” to get a better understanding of, and to keep track of what is happening in the FB universe

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Original post by Mark Cuban