Bryan's right about geography. If I lived in Brum, I'd actively seek out your company, face to face. As it is, that's in future. One day we'll move out of London, but not yet.

I've got a lot of geographically separated friend/acquaintances (most of them acquired through LRP) that I don't want to lose touch with. I arrange my own custom lists into two simple groups. People I trust with secrets (about half, and you're in that list), and people I don't feel as close to. I also have a Default group defined, so that I don't have to read, on a daily basis, compulsive wittering and meme-posting by people I don't actually want to de-friend.