Bread and Circuses: The State of Web App Startups
This is shallow thinking.<p>Facebook and the various other social apps do in fact address serious societal problems and needs.<p>There's been a trend for several decades of people in modern society growing further apart.  It's been lamented at great length in numerous studies and publications.  It's a natural consequence of the other choices our societies are making, becoming more mobile in both work and home.  People move more than they did, they change jobs more than they did, and thus they change social circles more than they did.<p>Social Networks compensate for all that.   They do in fact bring people closer together than they would be otherwise.  Certainly much of the interaction appears superficial, but if you think that indicates it's meaningless, that's because you don't understand social interaction.    Even casual, seemingly superficial interactions bring us closer.  They help us define our communities.<p>On Facebook I'm friends with people I haven't seen in 20+ years.  Yes, most of our interactions seem superficial.  But they aren't just that, they're tying us all closer to where we came from.  And sometime it's more than that.  That friend of yours from high school struggling with cancer?  It means something to them that 50 people post well wishes weekly.  It helps them.  It's meaningful.<p>I lost track of many people in my life, without really meaning to.  It's just how things work.  Facebook et al help me correct that.  They keep me in touch.  Sure I have my "real-life" friends, but it's also nice to have the extended group.<p>I lost track of these people.  My 13 year old niece will <i>never</i> lose track of someone unless she wants to.  Think about that.  Tell me that's not transformative.<p>Shallow thinking.