• Uncrunched, Wednesday, January 4, 2012 11:55 AM

Without offering any supporting data, Michael Arrington claims that consumers are losing patience with Facebook’s friend glut. “Lots of people say this is our own fault for showing zero restraint on adding friends over the years,” he writes. “But what seemed like a fun ‘sure why not, this is adventurous!’ in 2006 and 2007, when Facebook allowed open registrations now feels like a bad hangover.”

Rather than trim their friend lists, Arrington says “many of us” are turning to new social networks, like Path (in which Arrington’s venture capital firm is an investor), and others. As it stands, “Facebook is for thousands of people you don’t know. The fresh new services can be finely crafted from the start to include only your actual friends.”

Can Facebook stop what Arrington insists is a growing exodus? Sure, just follow the advice of Wired writer Steven Levy, and give Facebook users a “friend-list do-over.” Or, adds Arrington: “Give it a Jack Welch twist and auto suggest we unfriend the 10% of our Facebook friends that we interact with the least once a year. Or both.”

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