Isn't this the driving force behind everyone trying to innovate in the social space? Providing segmented social groups that down have the implied obligations of "friendship."
Isn't this the impetus for why we spend all of our time on HN and Reddit?
After edit, having seen first reply:
Yes, I am quite intentional about building a network of smart friends who have worthwhile things to say (not screened in any way by native language, country of origin, religious opinions, political opinions, or occupation). One of the delights of middle age is accumulating a group of interesting friends. (And that brings me here to HN.) As I noted another time Facebook's level of interest came up here on HN, once when I asked "Does Facebook bore you?" (in response to a front-page post here on HN), one friend replied, "I believe it was Samuel Johnson who said, 'When a man is tired of Facebook, he is tired of life.'" That kind of literary allusion in a humorous comment is routine among my friends, and one of the reasons I like spending a lot of time on Facebook.
And after further edit, I'd be delighted to hear from other readers here why they think Facebook could or could not do the same for them. Meanwhile, I will ask my Facebook friends, having posted the original link that was referred to in this submission here on HN,
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=...
what they think of the predicted problem. (And the first reply was, "I guess I'm just not avoiding that many people... it hasn't been a problem.")
Mine, and I think a lot of other people's is all drivel, and that's after taking the time to block people who I don't care to see.
I started using Facebook in College, when it was just for college students, and the use case was COMPLETELY different than I would want to use it now.
Now, I'm constantly searching to find an online equivalent of the high-level conversation which I get in the real world (similar to your humour literary allusions).
I'm much more protective of my real-world social connections.
HN is one of the means through which I escape the constraints of my real life social circles.
It's not pulling, because you are creating content. But its not shoving either, cuz the only people who would take the time to read it are people who are at least moderately interested.