I think so. The Wired article completely dismisses any benefit from our lose associations by saying that we are only shaped by the opinions of our close friends

I think so. The Wired article completely dismisses any benefit from our lose associations by saying that we are only shaped by the opinions of our close friends. The Facebook article says that we are actually exposed to the diverse opinions offered by our associates more than those of our close friends. The example given in the Wired article about the two universities in Kansas implies that the students at the larger university, who are surrounded by a more diverse students but who have close friends similar to themselves, are exposed to less diverse opinions. That is never actually proven in the article.