Seriously. Someone I knew in high school? Ok, if dubiously. But someone who’s their friend and whom I’ve never met? Why are you even asking me?
Some people like having lots of Facebook friends. I can think of several possible reasons:
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They want the widest possible audience for the things they post/share on their feed.
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It makes them feel popular and included to have a high friend count, even if they’re only virtual “friends.”
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They’re curious and interested as to what kind of friends their friends have. (Interested in meeting your IRL friends and family’s other friends and family? Maybe not everybody is, but a lot of people naturally are.)
I have people friending me because they read a funny comment I made and they want the lols.
Turns out I only sometimes have the lols.
Let’s not forget that FB itself is constantly “suggesting” friends, based on the most tenuous connections. Every time I do add a new friend, I get a barrage of FB suggestions that I add virtually everyone on the friend list of the new actual friend. I used to accept most everyone who asked, but I did a major purge a while ago, and now I’m pretty much only accepting people that I have a personal connection to, or that I’ve actually met in real life.
I have a few facebook friends, maybe a dozen, all real friends and family whose friendship I solicited myself. A few of them have lots and lots of friends. So I show up as a suggested friend for the friends of their friends, probably in the thousands. But never, ever get a friend request. What am I doing wrong?