A recent article in the Economist discusses the impact of social networking applications on an individual’s circle of intimacy.  The article posits that while tools such as Facebook and Twitter might increase the number of people that active networkers interact with, the majority of these exchanges are casual in nature.  Most folks have a small core of friends with whom they feel comfortable discussing important matters, and the availability of large numbers of social contacts doesn’t seem to affect that.

Makes sense to me.  It takes hard work to maintain true friendships.  Even the most comfortable relationships, the ones that seem effortless and timeless, require maintenance by both parties to remain viable.  Online social networking tools might help us keep track of a large number of social contacts, but there’s only so much emotional investment capital available.

Still, it’s funny how people are casually sharing increasingly intimate details of their lives with a circle of contacts who are, despite being named a friend on Facebook, effectively strangers.   Social networking seems to bring out a bit of the exhibitionist in people.  In a comment about Internet voyeurism, Seth Finkelstein insightfully called Twitter “low-level celebrity for the chattering class.”

What embarrasing detail about an acquaintance do you wish you could unlearn?