Cool new little Facebook feature (and unfriending)

So, four people unfriended me from Facebook today. Given that I have 4,995 friends that’s probably to be expected. But I have 150 waiting to get onto my friends list. But that brings me to the new feature that just appeared.

Facebook now shows me how many friends we have in common BEFORE I add you as a friend.

So, now that I’m in a scarcity situation I have to treat each request the way a normal person would. Who gets in? My “real” friends first. Then people I know. Then people I’ve heard of, or who I want to follow. Then if there’s still any openings left I’ll look at the notes people leave me (only about 5% actually send a note along with the request) and how many friends we have in common (generally more friends in common mean we’re probably in the same social circles).

Anyway, did you know that every Tuesday Facebook adds new features? I wonder what other features were added this week?

UPDATE: I should have known that Rodney Rumford over at FaceReviews.com noticed this new feature too and did a much better job than me of explaining it.

Oh, and later today we should have up an interview with Randi Zuckerberg, first sister of Facebook (she’s the sister of the CEO and is also director of business development there). One interesting story she told me was that their dad was a dentist who always was looking to try the newest techniques out in his practice. To me that all made sense. Dentists are very social, need to keep track of patients, and the best of them are also geeks who keep up to date on technology. Anyway, more on the interview with Randi when we get that up.