The importance of friends should not be underestimated. As the saying goes, "No man is an island," so friends are a necessity. No one has a chance alone. Friends provide help and support, while allowing good character development by providing opportunities for reciprocity. More friends often mean more benefit.
One should strive to have as many friends as possible. More friends mean more support, more opportunities to give support, and less likelihood of conflict or misunderstanding. However, it is also important to treat friends sincerely. This means treating them as ends-in-themselves, not merely as means to ends. Those who treat people only as means to ends are not real friends--they simply selfishly use people.
Real friends are those who give selflessly and do not demand anything in return. Such people can be difficult to find, but this makes them all the more valuable. In the sense of real friendship, reciprocity means helping friends out of desire rather than obligation.
It is difficult to become a real friend, because if one party is selfless and sincere, and the other party is not, the sincere party will be exploited. However, in the relatively rare instances where both parties are genuine, a lasting, valuable friendship will probably arise. This is the ideal scenario.
While not every friend one makes will be a real friend, most relationships have something to offer. Remembering the principles of reciprocity and selflessness, friends should serve each other well.