In 1985 Robert N. Bellah and his co-authors published Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. The book describes an older idea of friendship with several parts. “Today we tend to define friendship most in terms of the first component: friends are those we take pleasure in being with.”
Usefulness is a different matter. The authors write: “we are quite aware of the importance of being ‘friendly’ to those who are potentially useful to us.”