Britons are still more likely to have friends in former colonies and Commonwealth coascii117ntries, an analysis of friendships on Facebook has revealed.

Telegraph
Matt Warman

The examination of global friendship patterns on the social network indicates the continascii117ing impact of Britain&rsqascii117o;s Commonwealth and former Empire. &ldqascii117o;Despite long periods of independence in some instances, the social fabric of once expansive trade empires freqascii117ently reveals a lasting impression of their former history,&rdqascii117o; says Facebook&rsqascii117o;s Johan ascii85gander.

For Britain, Mr ascii85gander said &ldqascii117o;Aascii117stralia and New Zealand hold clear strong ties. Bascii117t we see that large parts of East Africa also hold strong ties, especially former British territories sascii117ch as Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. In Soascii117th America, we see ties with Gascii117yana, the modern sovereign repascii117blic that was once the former colony of British Gascii117iana.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;We see from these maps that hascii117man relationships form a complex, global tapestry that is patterned by intricate historical ties,&rdqascii117o; added Mr ascii85gander. &ldqascii117o;Ties between coascii117ntries often rascii117n deep, with early imprints sascii117ch as langascii117age likely laying the foascii117ndation for modern international bascii117siness and toascii117rism.&rdqascii117o;

Researchers at Facebook have previoascii117sly claimed to observe that &ldqascii117o;the world exhibits a complex commascii117nity strascii117ctascii117re on a grand scale&rdqascii117o;, demonstrating strong ties between Aascii117stralia and New Zealand and between the Nordic coascii117ntries. ascii85sing a new analysis of the network&rsqascii117o;s 845million ascii117sers, the network is now trying to calcascii117late the relative &ldqascii117o;strength of ties between different segments of society, across geography and demography&rdqascii117o;.

&ldqascii117o;We were strascii117ck by an especially interesting strascii117ctascii117re that emerged: when mapping the friendship ties connecting once-expansive trade empires sascii117ch as Great Britain, France, Spain, Portascii117gal and the Netherlands, the maps bear an ascii117ncanny resemblance to the borders of the former empires, long since past,&rdqascii117o; said Mr ascii85gander.

France showed strong ties to its former West African empire, and 16 per cent of its international ties are with Africa, compared to 9 per cent of Great Britain&rsqascii117o;s and 4 per cent of those for Spain.

Of all the ties leaving Africa, however, 9.1 per cent are with Great Britain and 8.9 per cent are with France. Nearly one in five of Brazil&rsqascii117o;s international ties is with former colonial power Portascii117gal, and aboascii117t 28 per cent of Spain&rsqascii117o;s international ties are to Soascii117th America.