The Power of Social Networking . . . 209 吀栀e More the Merrier? As you get used to looking at di昀昀erent Facebook pro昀椀les, become aware of the elements that always catch your attention. 吀栀e photographs will de昀椀nitely be at the top of the list. Beyond the pictures, most people also look at the friends list and the number of friends that the pro昀椀le’s owner has been able to amass. 吀栀e more friends you have, the cooler (or hotter) you must be, right? On that assumption, many Facebook users try to make their friends list as extensive as possible. 吀栀ere are plenty of lists with thousands of names. But growing your friends list just for the sake of growing it is misplaced energy. It’s much more important to keep in touch with the contacts you do have, regardless of how high that number may be. How responsive are you to your friends? How responsive are they to you? 吀栀e answer to those questions will be “not very” if your list is more than a few hundred names. But if you’re connecting with those few hundred people in an enthusiastic, informative, and pro- active way about yourself and your book, they’ll do the rest of the work for you. Your friends will talk about you with their friends, and that elusive goal of viral marketing will be yours. If you haven’t exchanged a message with someone on your friends list for several months, try get- ting in touch to see what happens. If nothing happens, it might be time to unfriend that person from your bloated list. And the time has de昀椀nitely arrived when you see