Agreed. In fact, this is a big part of why I dislike Facebook: the public nature of conversation distorts it. I have wonderful, deep conversations with my wife

Agreed. In fact, this is a big part of why I dislike Facebook: the public nature of conversation distorts it. I have wonderful, deep conversations with my wife. I also have deep conversations with my best friend. I love them both, and I'm not hiding anything from either one. But the intimacy and tone of either conversation would be ruined by the presence of the other person. This isn't about duplicity; it's about the nature of friendship. The sense of humor between us, the shared memories, the references we don't have to explain - those are all different. Public conversation like wall posts lacks all of that. It's not inimate; it's self-conscious. It inherently lacks depth because it's dumbed down to the lowest common denominator for everyone who will see it. It's more like performance art than real conversation. That's why I'll take email over wall posts any day. I want to hear what you have to say to ME, not what you want everyone else seeing you say to me. It's not about secrets, it's about real, personal contact.