[Smaug123]

Just another person here saying that this is indeed what friends are for, and isn't manipulative in whatever negative sense usually applies - in case enough people saying it will eventually convince the monkey brain.

Consider reading _The Elephant In The Brain_, by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson; its central thesis is that almost everything we do (including charity, art, lifting, laughing, hundreds of things) is ultimately about signalling things to other people, usually to make ourselves look good or desirable in some way. In that sense, everything we do is manipulative. Embrace it! There really are no "pure" motives.