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Forging a friendship that lasts for ever

As new research suggests 10 friends is the optimum number, Marisa Duffy finds out why good pals matter more than ever in a changing world.

True happiness, as Ben Jonson so eloquently put it, consists not in the multitude of friends but in their worth and choice. That, however, was 400 years ago; today, social networking sites such as Facebook mean the forging of hundreds of new friendships has never been easier.