I ran across a thought provoking rant about the state of social networking and status updates today that draws attention to whether or not these things are creating "real" relationships.

From: Status update: the future of the web is here! Alexander van Elsas Weblog on new media & technologies and their effect on social behavior

"A new generation is learning that the best the web has brought us is the status update. That friends are measured in terms of quantity, and that interaction can be done passively. We need pokens to connect (my brain just melted by this infantile invention). If that is the future of the web, then you can count me out. I spend the last week without any social media tools and concentrated on real-life relations in both my private and working life. There is no online experience that can remotely match those interactions. We are all sitting behind our screens like a bunch of dressed up monkeys, confusing status updates with real interactions, and failing to see the wonders of life as it passes by. It's pathetic.