I doubt if Facebook will live to be an old institution. Quite apart from the sense that It doesn’t do enough to have staying power, I still feel that virtual social networks are of dubious value. They are really quite antisocial. They allow you to make connections without actually having to. In so doing they are lacking in the things that make connection important. Exclusivity is one of these important facets. All worthwhile relationships have the character of exclusivity.

Now, it may well be that part the attraction of Facebook is that it allows you to get around the stringent requirements for developing a real network. Social conventions are deeply immersed in requirement and restriction. Online contacts bypass these difficulties by pretending they don’t exist.

And I’m not saying here that contact being made easy is a bad thing. I’m not saying that the invention of an entire new tier of virtual connection is useless. Such networks could be helpful to those who take to them with flare and imagination. What I am saying is that most people are not that creative. Through time they fall back on their age-old ways of animal bonding. They relate to those in proximity, the ones they can see, hear and touch, the ones who feed their base needs.

I wonder too about the public nature of Facebook. You are pulled in the direction of saying things to a lot of people. Whereas the really important exchanges in life tend to be more intimate. The valuable conversations run deeper and usually take place in small groups or one to one. They lean to being exclusive where things are said that would not be said publicly.

What I’m led to conclude is that people are on Facebook just to be on Facebook and not for any deep-seated contact value that comes from the experience. Personally I can’t see how any of the relationships I already have would be enhanced by adding a virtual dimension to them. Facebook can do nothing to these associations that can’t be done better by more conventional means.

Yes I can see how it might be a useful bridging tool - i.e. helping make new relationships that convert to the actual. Perhaps there might lie its potential for me. Actually what would work for me was some kind of exclusive professional network that allowed me to build bridges with others in my world that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. I’d happily pay for that and pay well for it.

Most people are not bridgers however and that is why I think Facebook won’t last. Virtual relationships are deficient in the essential elements. Unless they facilitate something actual they will soon lose their cool and be relegated to the realms of passing fad. MySpace, Bebo, Friendster anyone?