In their book on friendship, Liz Spencer and Ray Pahl identified 8 different types (based on their research).
Associates were people who only shared a common activity, like a hobby or a sport.
Useful contacts were people who shared information and advice, typically related to work or advancing ones career.
Favor friends were people who helped each other out in a functional manner, but not in an emotional manner.
Fun friends were people who socialized together, but only for fun. They didn’t provide each other with a deep level of emotional support.
Helpmates were a combination of favor friends and fun friends. They socialized together and helped each other out in a functional manner.
Comforters were like helpmates, but they also provided emotional support.
Confidants disclosed personal information to each other, enjoyed each other’s company, but weren’t always in a position to offer practical help, for example if they lived far away.
Soulmates displayed all of the elements.
Which types of friendships are you targeting?
on Apr 21st, 2010 at 7:58 am
thanks paul. i agree with the foundation/overall approach of this chart. i think it really sums up the different roles our friends can play, and the different roles we often play for our own friends.
might i suggest a slight variation though?
http://butterteam.tumblr.com/post/538468201/eight-types-of-friendships-original-chart-via
on Apr 25th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
@butter team I like it, but I’m not sure my mother would call anyone in her network ‘Bro’ ;-D
on Apr 27th, 2010 at 7:37 am
Friends are sitting in my heart
on Jul 12th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Facebook should adopt this
on Jul 14th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Thanks for you this post. Also read you presentation on social networks of how people have different groups and identities. Interestingly Flickr.com has this concept on their website, one can decide on the type of friend and therefore restrict who is seeing what!
I guess it was against the FaceBook “business requirement” or neglect to introduce such a system :).
Who wins in UX when it comes to requirements, users or businesses?
on Jul 22nd, 2010 at 7:47 am
Paul, thank you. However, I think this classification of friends is a little bit uncompleted as well as your consideration of this problem in your slide-show. For example, what about relatives, coworkers, online friends moved from offline, etc. I research this issue a couple of years and write on “virtual friendship” in context of “social” Internet future at my blog (unfortunately, in Russian only). Last my post on this topic is “Social labyrinth, or What is a friend’s weight?” http://amilner.itechbridge.com/2010/07/20/social-labyrinth/ . It’s regarding your last posts and your future book. You could understand what I want to say if read attachment in English to the post .
on Jul 22nd, 2010 at 6:08 pm
oh god i died reading the ‘butter team’ chart. ‘chillbro’? ’sharebro’? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
props!
that having been said, this particular list is neither funny nor illuminating… disappointing, because i expected more insight.
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