[mercer]

A number of my good friendships would not have existed without Facebook to bridge the gap that a traveling lifestyle created between our initial contact and our later co-existence.

Could we have simply sent letters, or emails? Yes, but we probably wouldn't have done this. Does this benefit offset the negative impact of sites like Facebook? I don't know, and I think it's too early to tell.

But to say these sites are not useful is a bit too extreme a statement, in my opinion. I know many people who happily use social sites just to augment their social lives...