Social networking sites are multiplying at an unprecedented rate, and being taken up by an increasingly wide spectrum of society. But who needs 100, or 1,000, friends? What is the boundary between friendship and networking? Should we treat this desire for community as a positive sign that Western society is not based on selfish individualism? Or are ‘friends’ simply another 21st-century status symbol?

Speakers: Mark Vernon, author, The Philosophy of Friendship; Carole Stone, managing director, YouGovStone; MT Rainey, founder of online social network www.horsesmouth.co.uk; Derek Draper, psychotherapist and former adviser to Peter Mandelson, and Kate Hamilton, MD of Gravity Planning and Research, and member of the Friendship Project. Chair: Professor Ray Pahl, co-author of Rethinking Friendship.

Registration required:

Yes

Free:

No