"years after these sites have become the leading destinations on the Web, I still don't get it. I don't have that visceral, gut understanding of the attraction

"years after these sites have become the leading destinations on the Web, I still don't get it. I don't have that visceral, gut understanding of the attraction and benefits of these services" Same thing here; I just don't get it. But my theory is this: I have friends I see regularly and we keep in touch, talk about the big things in life and (for a few of these guys) they're basically like brothers to me. I have maybe a dozen other people I like to keep in touch with, and a dozen others who I get on with but rarely see. I think some people like to think they have hundreds of friends, but it's a different definition of "friend" -- more like my category of "people I get on with but rarely see". Emailing, phoning or (heaven forfend) going out places with those people probably won't happen too often, but keeping a page on a social networking site allows you to keep in touch without too much effort or appearing a bit creepy by emailing or phoning too often. I still don't "get it" on a visceral level but I can see why some people want to do that. Summary: if you have loose connections to many people, use Facebook or MySpace. If you have more intense relationships with a few people, don't.