Friendship paradox
On average, your friends have more friends than you do, because very social people appear in many people's friend lists.
In plain English
Someone with 20 friends shows up in 20 friend lists; someone with 5 shows up in 5. So when anyone looks at their friends, the most social people are over-represented. Whatever goes with being social, like late nights, parties or posting everything, looks far more common among your friends than it really is.
Uncle Gary explains
Cousin Kevin's daughter Mia says everyone is allowed out until midnight. In her class, one kid in five is. Among her friends, three in four are. She is accurately describing a very unrepresentative sample.
Why it matters for your money
Social feeds work the same way: the people you see most are the loudest and most active, so 'everyone is making money on this' usually means 'the people talking are'.
Where we tested it
Related terms
All glossary terms. Educational content, not financial advice.