Social networks stay small despite social networking

Even though digital social networks offer instant, infinite connections to other people, people still focus their communication efforts on a small, finite group of close friends or family. The communication patterns, tracked with phone call and survey data in 24 students transitioning to work or university, suggest that when individuals add a few people to their social network, they unconsciously bump some from it, researchers report January 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.