Social Networking

We went to a big family gathering at the weekend - my sister's 25th Wedding Anniversary. Like many I suppose, as a family we don't all get together that often, so it's always fun. What has been interesting subsequently is the flurry of Facebook friends invites that followed. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces who have barely spoken in years, have rushed to their social networks to make and stay in contact with people they saw at the party. Will they keep in touch more now than they did? Well, only time will tell. They didn't write to each other, didn't phone, didn't text, didn't email. They might not poke each other, and I don't see them twittering, but I do think this useful evidence, not just that there is a role for social networks in the real world, but that the more channels there are open to us, the more connected we will be, and for all of us, it is just a question of finding the right pipe with the right person at the end of it.