Ann Hulbert’s essay, “Confidant Crisis,” in the July 16, 2006, New York Times Magazine highlighted data from our report, “The Strength of Internet Ties,” in which we found that the internet helps maintain people’s social networks. Hulbert explained, for the benefit of the ever-shrinking group of people unaware of MySpace, that the word “friend” is no longer just a noun, but a verb. For better or worse, I was reminded of another insightful commentary on social networking — The Daily Show’s “Trendspotting: Social Networking” segment which makes a similar, if much more ridiculous, point. I recommend checking out both the Times essay and Daily Show piece, after reading our report, of course.
