Hey, Friend, Do I Know You?

[Commentary] Facebook, which some think of as a guilty diversion, does have its social -- and business -- prerogatives. The network is on a tear right now, achieving numerical parity with MySpace in global reach. Last month, according to comScore, Facebook had 123.9 million unique visitors and 50.6 billion page views worldwide while MySpace had 114.6 million unique visitors and 45.4 billion page views. According to company executives, Facebook, which has over 80 million subscribers worldwide, doubled the number of subscribers under 35 last year, but it tripled the number of subscribers between 35 and 54. Carr concludes, "When a new media winner like Facebook comes over the horizon, who loses? In my case, it's probably my real actual friends. As a reporter, I learn to hate the telephone during the day, but at night I feel somewhat social again and step out onto the porch to call buddies for a little nocturnal quality time. Now I am too busy checking their status updates to actually speak to them."