By last count, I had 398 friends. I know what you’re thinking: this girl must be incredibly popular, right? And what a social life!

But of course, it’s all a farce. These are friends of the Facebook variety. Which means they’re a mix of random acquaintances, classmates I haven’t seen or spoken to in more than a decade, a similar contingent of college-era friends, a smattering of co-workers, a few dozen cousins and other assorted relatives, etc. There are, of course, some who are the “genuine article” – those who I count as true friends both in cyberspace and in real life.

The interesting phenomenon I guess, is that more than a handful of the people who started in one of the previous aforementioned categories have migrated to real-friendom. Which is pretty cool.

My favorite part of Facebook, I guess, is the chance to reconnect, both with my old school buddies and my family, the far-reaching Farrell clan. With roughly 35 first cousins on my mother’s side, that’s quite a feat, since we range in age from early 20s to mid-50s and are spread geographically around the country. In fact, I’d say the social networking site has done more to bring us all back together than anything since my Uncle Bill’s Farrell Family Facts newsletter. (The monthly publication had quite the cult following at Manhattan College.)