Is Social Networking Diseased?

"An Unmanageable Circle of Friends" (Washington Post, August 26, 2007) is an Op-Ed piece that might get a discussion or two started.

I think that the piece's author has a point: online "networking" can easily get out of hand, preventing communication between individuals.

On the other hand, the author could have done a little more research. The assertion that "really juiced-up message boards -- in which users meet via genuine common interests rather than simply mass friend-collect" are a "futurist prediction" is a little behind the time.

I found out about this article on BlogCatalog, self-described as "the premiere social blog directory on the internet."

It's a "juiced-up message board" in which "users meet via genuine common interests" - in this case, blogging.

Wait, I keep forgetting: We're living in the future!

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