Relevant article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375715,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375715,00.asp Dvorak argues that Facebook is AOL.

Relevant article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375715,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375715,00.asp Dvorak argues that Facebook is AOL. I disagree, and think it's inferior to AOL. Mainly because Facebook neither provides an entry into the internet (like AOL's ISP did/does) nor has a viable, general purpose email system. Facebook messaging couldn't replace something like Gmail. I think the lack of those systems make it easy to abandon the service for something else. Having 100+ "friends" on Facebook isn't a compelling reason to stay when most people probably wouldn't notice if 90% of those individuals disappeared from one day to the next. Most of your social network online is an illusion. I'm testing out Google+ right now, but I'm doing so under an alias. The alias is known to my friends and everything I post and share is authentic. My change in attitude comes from 4 years of having a real identity presence online; I don't really see the benefit of shedding anonymity.