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Most Facebook friends are only virtual because human brains are capable of managing a maximum of just 150 friendships, according to a new study.

Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Oxford University, has studied social gatherings through the centuries. He found that the size of the neocortex, the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language, means that even the most sociable person can only manage a maximum of 150 friendships.

His findings are based on Dunbar's Number, a phrase he coined in the 1990s, that showed humans are incapable of maintaining (which he defines as contacting at least once a year) more than 150 people.

Professor Dunbar compared the online traffic of Facebook users with thousands of friends with those who had hundreds. His findings showed there is no discernable difference. 'When you actually look at traffic on sites, you see people maintain the same inner circle of around 150 people that we observe in the real world,' he said.

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