Views on social networking

Two very grownup views of social networking are presented as pretty much the only ones in PC Magazine this week, one more confirmation that few adults understand teens' attraction to social networking – that it's more than just socializing or self-expression. It's both: creative networking, social producing, or "collaborative self-expression." A new concept for those who think of the Web more as an information source than community, but for digital natives (teens) on the broadband Web we're all now using, socializing doesn't really happen without creating or producing, and vice versa, and the Pew Internet & American Life Project says young people are the drivers of the participatory Web, or Web 2.0 as it's often called (see its May 2006 report). In other social-networking news this week: Another niche network, TravelHiker.com, debuted this week; the Philadelphia Inquirer was able to interview and profile the elusive 16- and 18-year-old founders of MyYearbook.com about their online-safety plans for the site; and The Register reports on computer-security risks on the social networks.