Facebook: British Empire still shapes friendship patterns The examination of global friendship patterns on the social network indicates the continuing impact of Britain's Commonwealth and former Empire. "Despite long periods of independence in some instances, the social fabric of once expansive trade empires frequently reveals a lasting impression of their former history," says Facebook's Johan Ugander. For Britain, Mr Ugander said "Australia and New Zealand hold clear strong ties. But we see that large parts of East Africa also hold strong ties, especially former British territories such as Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. In South America, we see ties with Guyana, the modern sovereign republic that was once the former colony of British Guiana. "We see from these maps that human relationships form a complex, global tapestry that is patterned by intricate historical ties," added Mr Ugander. Ties between countries often run deep, with early imprints such as language likely laying the foundation for modern international business and tourism. Researchers at Facebook have previously claimed to observe that "the world exhibits a complex community structure on a grand scale," demonstrating strong ties between Australia and New Zealand and between the Nordic countries. Using a new analysis of the network's 845million users, the network is now trying to calculate the relative "strength of ties between different segments of society, across geography and demography." "We were struck by an especially interesting structure that emerged: when mapping the friendship ties connecting once-expansive trade empires such as Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, the maps bear an uncanny resemblance to the borders of the former empires, long since past," said Mr Ugander. 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'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's international ties is with former colonial power Portugal, and about 28 per cent of Spain's international ties are to South America.