[wakeupthedawn]

This is another person who doesn't understand real Facebook users (as opposed to the people who just joined so they could "participate in social networking") at all. A leaderboard ranking your connections is an idiotic idea.

Having more friends generally equates to greater personal satisfaction with Facebook and in real life

This is the case only because the Facebook accounts of real users are actually a reflection of their real-life social networks. Those who are happy and outgoing in real life are likely to have larger networks of friends and acquiantances, which results in more Facebook friends. They do not "friend" random people, nor do they "make" friends on Facebook.