Fresh from shipping a paper related to Facebook and social networks, I found this really interesting post on the convergence of virtual worlds and social networks on Terranova.
It stems from the following points:
1. Virtual worlds already ARE social networking sites of a sort.
2. Social networking sites provide profiles and buddy lists for your WHOLE life, not just your virtual one.
3. On social networking sites you play yourself, while in virtual worlds, you play someone else (well sort of).
and rouses the following questions
Is it a good idea to combine virtual worlds and social networking sites?
How should virtual worlds and social networking sites be integrated, if at all?
a somehow related post on Klastrup Cataclysms ponders on the debate on the difference between Communities and Networks, will write more about it later on.