A few months back, Jeff Pulver, a friend and new media guru (amongst many many other things) was lamenting about Facebook’s 5000 friend limit.  Having nowhere near 5000 friends myself, I had no idea that Facebook limits you to 5000 friends.

To work around this limitation, Jeff created a “Fan” page for himself and the spillover Friend requests got funneled into the Fan page.   This got me to thinking about the concept of Friend and Fans.

I’ve noticed a new trend on Facebook…that third column you your main newsfeed page.  The one that usually starts with “Suggestions” and offers you to become fans or friends of new people or things.   You’ve seen them….”Become a fan of Laughing” was one I saw the other day.

Underneath the Suggestions you’ve got your Sponsored Ads.  You may have noticed that sometimes your Ads have fans too (perhaps friends of yours?).  These are simply implied endorsements.   This is where it gets tricky…and might be getting Facebook into some legal trouble.

Is there a distinction between being a Friend and a Fan?   Is Facebook using your “Friendship” or “Fandom” to help market products?  It’s all very gray, but Gawker thinks there may be more to it…

Gawker – Did Julia Allison Break the Law in Search of Facebook Fame? – julia allison.