Facebook: Delete 10 friends, get a free Whopper

Fast-food chain Burger King has created "Whopper Sacrifice", a Facebook application that will give you a coupon for a free hamburger if you delete 10 people from your friends list.

Is social networking getting nasty? Or just moving with the times? As people's "friends" lists move into quadruple figures, an occasional friends cull could soon be common practice. On Friday, I met a hostel owner here in Buenos Aires who claims to have 2,000 "friends". "I'd say I actually know about 1,000 of them," he said. The rest are just people - or, in some cases, places, events or attractions - he has said 'yes' to without a second thought.

Personally I draw the line at adding places or events, as I have no desire to be bombarded with marketing messages. However, I do have a couple of people on my friends list that I talked to for a few minutes in a hostel. "Are you on Facebook?" is now just as common a question as "Where are you from?".

Admittedly, the site is a great resource when travelling, especially for helping you keep in touch with everyone back home and the people you meet on the road. Having been in my current hostel for nearly a month, I've got to know some of the other guests well. These are people I'd like to stay in contact with and catch up with again if our travel itineraries cross. Without Facebook, it's hard to remember every other backpacker's plans: who will be back in Buenos Aires later in the year, who you've tentatively arranged to meet in Uruguay in late summer etc etc.

However, some travellers are going even further and using the site to help make their plans. I've recently come across two Buenos-Aires-themed Facebook groups: one for people looking for a housemate and another for people who were in the city for Christmas and New Year. For this sort of thing, I'd say there are better places to look than Facebook (such as Couchsurfing forums or Craigslist), but it looks as though the site is becoming a one-stop shop for many users.

I'm sure I have some Facebook friends who would neither notice or be offended if I sacrificed them for a Whopper. Although in my case, unless veggie version is an option, I'm more likely to be the sacrificed one.

Then again, looking at the above picture - a Japanese Terriaki Whopper taken from Wiki Images - is it really worth the effort?