Racking up a huge list of 'friends' on social networking websites does not make users as popular as they think, according to a study by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University.

Face-to-face contact is still the most important factor when it comes to making genuine close friends, according to the survey which looked at modern changes to friendship networks.

"People see face-to-face contact as being absolutely imperative in forming close friendships," said Will Reader, a doctor of psychology at Sheffield Hallam.

The study found that people were able to keep in touch with a much larger group of people using sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook.

But they still only regard five people as close friends, the same number as in the real world.

"Although the number of friends people have on these sites can be massive, the actual number of close friends is approximately the same as in the face-to-face real world," said Dr Reader.

Ninety per cent of the online contacts who were considered close friends had also been met by people face to face.

"What social network sites can do is decrease the cost of maintaining and forming these social networks because we can post information to multiple people," explained Dr Reader.

"What we need is to be absolutely sure that a person is really going to invest in us, is really going to be there for us when we need them. It is very easy to be deceptive on the internet."