You Have 0 Friends

"You Have 0 Friends" is the fourth episode of the 14th season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 199th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 7, 2010. In the episode, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick make Stan Marsh a profile on the social networking service Facebook against his wishes, and he becomes extremely frustrated with everyone asking him for friend requests. After he gets fed up with Facebook, Stan tries to delete his profile but is sucked into a virtual Facebook world. Meanwhile, Kyle starts trying to find ways to get more friends on Facebook after he drastically starts losing them due to his befriending of a third-grade friendless Facebook user, whom everyone considers a loser. The episode was written and directed by co-creator Trey Parker and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. "You Have 0 Friends" features references to Facebook, and Stan's plotline parodies the 1982 Walt Disney Pictures film Tron with Stan in the role of Kevin Flynn, and its climax borrows from the climax of the 2009 Japanese animated science fiction film Summer Wars. The episode also parodies the CNBC series Mad Money, as well as the online chat website Chatroulette, and the social network game FarmVille. "You Have 0 Friends" has received positive reviews from critics, and according to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was viewed by 3.071 million viewers and became the cable lead in the 18–49 Wednesday night. Plot Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick surprise Stan Marsh by creating a Facebook account for him. Stan protests, but is quickly pressured by family and friends to add them as friends. To his annoyance and frustration, Stan finds people such as his father Randy, his grandmother and even his girlfriend Wendy Testaburger confronting him over his supposed disregard for them and judging his friendship solely by his Facebook configuration. Meanwhile, Kyle adds shy student Kip Drordy (anagram: Dorky Drip) to his thriving friends list out of pity. Kyle's number of Facebook friends rapidly declines when he does this, in part due to a Mad Friends podcast he finds Cartman has set up in which he berates Kyle for choosing Kip as a friend and asserts nobody will want to hang out with him. Kyle understands this, but, on principle and out of pity, cannot bring himself to delete Kip to please others.