Louisiana State student Ana Elena Buleu, who took part in the survey, has about 100 Facebook "friends," all of whom she knows in real life.
The 22-year-old biochemistry major uses the web site to keep in touch with college friends, as well as high school friends still living in Romania, where she grew up.
"I use email mostly for work and I use Facebook for friendships," she tells WebMD. "It is a good way to check in without sending an email."
Scott Golder, who has studied Facebook usage patterns as a research scientist for Hewlett-Packard, found the web site to be an important means of communication among college students across the country.
Golder tells WebMD that for better or worse, web sites like Facebook have the potential to keep people in touch with just about everyone they have ever known.
He says Facebook users tend to add friends, but they rarely remove friends because it is considered rude.
"Maintaining a relationship in the conventional way requires effort," he says. "At different stages of life people tend to have different groups of friends. They lose touch or drift apart, which, in some cases, is a healthy thing."
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