Oppositioning Verbizing

I generally don't like the transformation of verbs into nouns, especially when a verb with the same meaning already exists.

In the past, my (least) favorite example of this trend--probably because it's used so frequently in economics and law--is the word "incentivize," meaning "to establish incentives for." It's an ugly word, and moreover, "encourage" means the same thing. (Similarly, "discourage" obviates the need for the even uglier "disincentivize.")

There's a more recent example that I find just as annoying: "friend," meaning, inter alia, "to become Facebook friends with." We already have the perfectly good verb, "befriend," which conveys the same meaning. "Friend" is almost always coupled with an explicit reference to Facebook (e.g., "I saw her at a party on Wednesday, and then I friended her on Facebook the next day"). Thus, it's unlikely that using "befriend" instead would lead the listener to believe that the speaker actually became friends (of the non-Facebook variety) with someone.

Thoughts?