# Where does say it on FB site say you are limited to 5000 friends? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407 "2017-12-27T19:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/1 "2017-12-27T19:41:15Z")
I have read that a Facebook friend list is limited to 5000 people (including requests). Sure, there might be hacks to grow that number. I was searching through FB’s ToS and Policies pages, I didn’t see mention a 5000-friend limit. Granted that either page might not mention all the important fine print. However, where does say it on FB site say you are limited to 5000 friends? One could argue if it doesn’t specify the ToS doesn’t specify the amount of friends you can have, then that 5000 figure shouldn’t apply. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/2 "2017-12-27T19:54:58Z")
> [@Kadmos1](#): > > One could argue if it doesn’t specify the ToS doesn’t specify the amount of friends you can have, then that 5000 figure shouldn’t apply. Argue to who? Facebook can set internal amount limits on your friends without having to notify you of that maximum limit. If the ToS doesn’t ban them from doing so (and even then, what damages occurred as a result if you wanted to sue them), they can do so. ---
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/3 "2017-12-27T20:12:22Z")
Argue to common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/4 "2017-12-27T21:36:03Z")
> [@Kadmos1](#): > > Argue to common sense. I don’t think that applies here. You don’t have a leg to stand on. You could withhold your payment next time your dues come up. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/5 "2017-12-27T22:28:13Z")
Where did you read that Facebook has limits? Perhaps you should ask them where they got the information. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/6 "2017-12-27T23:01:50Z")
Many mentions of the limit on the Facebook Help pages, or do you believe that it is only enforceable if it is specifically stated in the terms of service? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/7 "2017-12-27T23:34:12Z")
And the Facebook help pages I found on a Google search said that if you want to have more than 5,000 friends, to set up a fan page. So is this a real concern for you? Do you have that many friends on Facebook? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/8 "2017-12-27T23:44:27Z")
One could argue it, for sure. But then, you could argue that your nose is a banana, and it would not make it so. Anyway, 5000 is plenty. > **[Dunbar's number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number)** > > Dunbar's number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships—relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person. This number was first proposed in the 1990s by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group size. By using the average human brain size and extrapolating from the results of primates, h Primat... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/9 "2017-12-28T00:05:53Z")
This reminds me: I need to stop worrying about hypotheticals that’ll never happen. When I get my undies in a bundle about something like this, I usually type up a long post… then I let it sit overnight to see if I really need to worry a forum about it. Then, 90% of the time, I delete it. Don’t get me started on misleading wording on packaging… that’s been good for three proto-threads. ---
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/10 "2017-12-28T03:21:47Z")
No, I don’t have 5000 friends (less than 40 on FB). An unfriended FB person does and I have been nagging him on at least letting me follow him to see the latest posts. Why did he unfriend me? AFAIK, it was because 2 of his other FB friends blocked because I said something that, to them, was anti-Semitic (Remember that recent thread?). The guy in question was the FB friend I interacted the most with. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/11 "2017-12-28T05:24:51Z")
For the life of me, I can’t figure out the point of this thread. You asked a random question. _Is_ there an arbitrary limit to the number of Facebook friends you can have? _Is_ that limit 5000? Neither of those things has been demonstrated. What put that idea in your head? Did manny peoples ask you, and now you wonder? Did it come to you in a yagé vision? Then you say that the limit is wrong. Is this an outrage to you? If so, why? Finally, you admit there’s no reason for you to be concerned, given that you’re nowhere near any limit Facebook might have. So, in the end, nothing really matters, and you’re the human equivalent of Buzzfeed. Maybe you need lunch. If you had some ham, you could have a ham sandwich, if you had some bread. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/12 "2017-12-28T05:38:00Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > For the life of me, I can’t figure out the point of this thread. > > You asked a random question. _Is_ there an arbitrary limit to the number of Facebook friends you can have? _Is_ that limit 5000? Neither of those things has been demonstrated. > > What put that idea in your head? Did manny peoples ask you, and now you wonder? Did it come to you in a yagé vision? > > Then you say that the limit is wrong. Is this an outrage to you? If so, why? > > Finally, you admit there’s no reason for you to be concerned, given that you’re nowhere near any limit Facebook might have. So, in the end, nothing really matters, and you’re the human equivalent of Buzzfeed. > > Maybe you need lunch. If you had some ham, you could have a ham sandwich, if you had some bread. Yes there is a 5,000 friend limit. > **[Are 5,001 Facebook Friends One Too Many? (Published 2010)](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/fashion/30FACEBOOK.html?referer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F)** > > Some Facebook users have reached the social networking site’s limit of 5,000 friends. So then what do you do? If you set up a fan page it has no limit so many famous people who use Facebook have well over 5,000 followers. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/13 "2017-12-28T05:40:12Z")
> [@Kadmos1](#): > > No, I don’t have 5000 friends (less than 40 on FB). An unfriended FB person does and I have been nagging him on at least letting me follow him to see the latest posts. Why did he unfriend me? AFAIK, it was because 2 of his other FB friends blocked because I said something that, to them, was anti-Semitic (Remember that recent thread?). The guy in question was the FB friend I interacted the most with. Don’t nag strangers online. You will either be put in the creepy stalker category or the troll category. You will not be in the “person I want to interact with online” category. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/14 "2017-12-28T05:41:23Z")
After you hit 5000, it won’t let you add anyone else unless you delete one. I’m Facebook friends with a few musicians who got a little popular and hit he limit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/15 "2017-12-28T08:19:55Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > If you set up a fan page it has no limit so many famous people who use Facebook have well over 5,000 followers. It’s probably that way for a reason - if the number were allowed to grow without limit, then really popular (e.g. famous) people would have networks of followers that would essentially make nearly everyone on facebook ‘friend of a friend’. FB has other, better solutions (pages, groups) for when your network of followers gets big - frankly, I’m surprised the limit is as high as 5000 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/16 "2017-12-28T08:45:14Z")
> [@Kadmos1](#): > > One could argue if it doesn’t specify the ToS doesn’t specify the amount of friends you can have, then that 5000 figure shouldn’t apply. …why? It’s the same people making both decisions. They don’t owe you everything that’s not forbidden by the terms of service. And even if this did make sense, why wouldn’t they just change the ToS in response to your magic argument? Like, if I wanted to get rid of or reduce the waiting time after using the search function on this site, I wouldn’t go to the folks that own it and tell them their terms of service say nothing about searches, therefore I get unlimited searches. There might be arguments to change it, but that isn’t one. ---
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/17 "2017-12-28T15:01:22Z")
He confirmed the unfriend move was because of was something I said on his or another person’s page. However, he didn’t mention what it was I said. I assume I was unfriended by him for those alleged anti-Semitic remarks. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/18 "2017-12-28T15:11:22Z")
> [@Kadmos1](#): > > He confirmed the unfriend move was because of was something I said on his or another person’s page. However, he didn’t mention what it was I said. I assume I was unfriended by him for those alleged anti-Semitic remarks. Is there a full selection of problematic posts that you must choose from? ---
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/19 "2017-12-28T15:20:42Z")
Maybe, but I think that was after the most recent problematic post. 6 months ago, I was accused of being homophobic/transphobic on his Wall and didn’t block me then. It might also have been his tolerance level towards me was slowly thinning away. ---
**Author:** ![Kadmos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/13edae/32.png) [@Kadmos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadmos1)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407/20 "2017-12-28T15:29:14Z")
It would have been better if I asked once the reason why then wait a few days. If I hadn’t gotten a response within at least 5 days, ask him again why. From that message, if no response within 5 days, drop it and move on. That’s easier said than done with people like me. I don’t know if my OCD has much of a factor in it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-say-it-on-fb-site-say-you-are-limited-to-5000-friends/805407.md?page=2)