[yuvadam]

This is a very important article. An eye opener.

My takeaway is this - Facebook is the first web application that showed us how easy it is to connect to the people we love, as well as those we know, but do not care about.

Facebook is the mere beginning of the way we will communicate in the future. It has its gripes, and people are starting to get bored with it ("ok so I friended her, now what?").

Nothing happens on Facebook.

Facebook, in my opinion, will eventually fade, and make room for new models of human communication, ones which do give us an added benefit instead of poking and secretly stalking our ex-girlfriend.

[Tichy]

"how easy it is to connect to the people we love"

I think connecting to someone used to mean something different, although I am not sure what it was.

[michaelchisari]

It's interesting, because my interest and understanding of social network is that it's precisely for managing my distant relationships. People I went to high school with, people I worked with 5 years ago, my second cousins, people I somewhat know who I may need to contact at some point.

People I'm close to, "the people I love", I've never had a problem keeping in touch with them. I have their number in my phone, I have their email address, I see them regularly, I know what they're up to, and how to contact them. That's never been a problem, and social networking hasn't really changed that for me.

[yeahsure]

Leaving a "happy birthday" used to mean you actually remember the date, not that you had a message requesting you to wish someone a happy birthday. The people I really care about get a phone call, not a dummy "wall post".

Maybe I'm a bit of an antisocial, but I really liked the days before social networks. My friends where on my IM contact list, colleagues on forums or mailing lists.

[pyre]

  > Leaving a "happy birthday" used to mean you
  > actually remember the date

Really? I'm sure there are plenty of people that put those things into calendars. How is the Facebook reminder+wallpost that much different than using Google Calendar + Gmail to get reminded to send a happy birthday email?

[yeahsure]

Maybe I didn't express myself correctly (My English is not that good) I meant picking up a phone and calling, establishing a connection, a bond - ie: Something not automated.

[trustfundbaby]

> Facebook is the mere beginning of the way we will communicate in the future

I think this is key. Just like iirc led to im and online forums led to reddit/hacker news, facebook will lead to something else ... That is what interests me.