Friending on Facebook etc

[TedThrowingPrize]

Can anyone please tell me what the practical implications of being 'Friends' on Facebook etc. are? You can exchange messages, right? (but you can already do that without being Friends?) So what does Friending add?

You can see each others pages. Depending on privacy settings you won't see as much without being friends

Like HaitchJay said.

For example, all of my Facebook profile is set to the privacy rating of "friends only". So no one can see anything I've posted (messages, photos, etc) unless we are "friends". I've never liked the idea of having my profile public, and a lot other users do not tend to have theirs public either.

Thankyou.