RE: 350 closets friends = sarcasm. But who knows how many people I would have had to call to find a biking partner. However, as far as close friends go, while difficult for me to quantify, the number would not be 3. Heck, I have 2 parents, 3 siblings and 1 husband and that right there doubles it. And yes, they are all "close" friends. I think that regardless of how social you are, Facebook can be a very efficient way to communicate. I know many INTP/Jers (married to one) who prefer the efficiency of Facebook because they can communicate what they need to and be less social while doing so.

If all of your friends and family are close by you and you see them often, then Facebook probably isn't that helpful to you (but you might want to read my reply to betterunixthanunix above). However, I have friends and family spread all over the world and that is the case for pretty much everyone I know. Additionally, even among those that live close, many of them travel all over the world - both for business and pleasure and myself included. Facebook has been wonderful for keeping in touch with those I do not see often. Heck, my brother, his wife and my 1-year-old nephew live 5 minutes away, but I don't see them everyday (or even every week). I also don't want the thousands of pictures they take clogging up my inbox or demanding my attention at an inconvenient time, but I really do love to see those pictures and am grateful to be able to witness all of those firsts (like petting a cat or eating cotton candy), that I probably wouldn't see otherwise.

Wow - my experience has been almost the complete opposite of yours. Your first and second steps of a typical Facebook exchange mirror mine, but as for the third one? Not at all. I have many friends that I have reconnected with (originally disappeared for many reasons) that I now spend a lot of time with and my life is richer for it and I had a busy and active social life before Facebook. As for events that I would not have know about? Most big things in my life are planned and while that can be done without Facebook, it is more efficient using Facebook. But, I would still know of these events without Facebook. Of course, because of the reconnections I have made with Facebook, there are many events I only know about because they involve those people. However, it is really with the spur of the moment events where Facebook shines. For example I suddenly found myself (because of a cancelled appointment) with most of a weekday free. It was an absolutely beautiful early summer day and it seemed perfect for a bike ride. I wanted to ride with people and did and had a fantastic time. However, if I had to call 350 of my closest friends first to find a few that happened to be free on a weekday and up for a bike ride, the spontaneity would have flown out the window and it is unlikely I would have had nearly as much fun that day as I did. A couple of weeks ago I found that a friend's band was booked to play at a club last minute (learned that through Facebook), so I posted my status that I was going and asked who wanted to go. I really wanted to go, but knew my husband couldn't and wasn't too hot about going to a club by myself in a sketchy part of town at 11 PM. Within minutes had a few friends line up to go with me. We had a wonderful time, but neither of these friends are people I would have thought to ask (one has 3 little kids and another on the way). The best thing about Facebook though is the passivity of it. I don't think all of my friends want a phone call or an email every time it pops into my head to go hear a band or take a bike ride. Also, while it is hard for me to grasp, there may be some of my brother's friends who do not want to see a picture of every cute thing my 1 year old nephew does. I don't necessarily want all of those photos clogging up my inbox, but I sure love the frequent posts and and the chance I have to see pictures of my nephew's first trip to the zoo or what he looked like this morning in big goofy sunglasses, that I likely would not have seen otherwise. I would be willing to guess that while you think you find out about all of the events, I'll bet there are plenty of the more spontaneous "Hey who wants to come over for some BBQ this afternoon?" events that you never know about. Events that are just too spontaneous for someone to make the special consideration for you to pick up the phone (remember the whole BBQ was conceived and planned in just 5 minutes on Facebook). Events where your friends are saying "Where is better unix than unix?" and the response is "Oh, Better is not on Facebook."