Kill "friends" - let us define our own relationships

Instead of using "friends", let us just set up "relationships" with people. This could basically be a modification of the "sets" that already exist. The only difference would be that you could make a set list public (where everyone could see the set contents) and private (where only you could see who's in a set).

Fans should also be able to be grouped into sets. The only difference between friends and fans at this point is whether the the subscription to messages is mutual or one way. That can just be an attribute you define as you set up your relationship with someone.

So here's how this could be used. Say I have a set of "Favorite Powncers". I'd make that a public set. It could include both people that I have a mutual subscription with and people that I have subscribed to but who haven't returned the subscription.

I might also have a set of "Possible Powncers" that was a private set and included people who had requested a relationship but I hadn't had time to check out yet.

Some other relationships/sets: "Local", "Meatspace", "Family", "Tech Sites", "People with my first name", "Gamers", "Developers"

Instead of a count of friends and fans, just have a count of "related to" (all the people you have relationships with / subscribe to) and "subscribed by" (all the people who subscribe to you). Or take a example from Twitter and say "following" and "followed by".