Leave it to Freakonomics to find these people and have them look into some of the effects of Social Networking. Stephan asked:
Has social networking technology (blog-friendly phones, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) made us better or worse off as a society, either from an economic, psychological, or sociological perspective?
Of Martin Baily, Danah Boyd, Steve Chazin, Judith Donath, Nicole Ellison, and William Reader and it seems that in general the answer is that the benefits from being more connected, far outweigh the negatives that we might find in isolated cases. I seem to remember that there was a story once that people feared that phones in homes might lead to a similar degradation of society as people would never meet face to face. In reality, a quick call or a status update allows us to make better time when we do get face to face with those we consider friends, ensuring that there is not as much “drfit” as might have occured without updates.
The down side, is the same as anything else that can be abused. People might have an issue trying to determine what a real or quality relationship is, especially if it only exists through mediated communication. The permanence of the the record may come back to haunt the individual later in life as well (Independent).
These are my overall impressions – please feel free to follow the link and make your own.
Update – Another predator report.
Leave a Reply