CNet News.com did a story this week on online chess playing. This is yet another form of social networking, and an interesting one. Other networking sites, like FaceBook, are places where anybody can upload anything. Niche social networking sites, like Chess.com, on the other hand, are structured. This leads to fewer members, but also tends to generate more excitement from those who participate. Social networking in any form is still very popular. Chess.com gained 120,000 user in its first 8 months. Social networking fills a need in people’s lives. Human beings are social animals. The advent of technology in a way separates people from each other. Most everyone you see in public is either listening to an iPod or talking on a cell phone, completely oblivious to the work around them. Even in professional life people are more isolated than ever before: each working on their own computer and communicating with each other largely through memos and email. Social networking sites help such people feel a part of a community. They also allow people to extend that community to anywhere in the world, forming communities not of location, but of interest. Social networking sites will continue to flourish. Any product that helps bring people together in new ways is likely to go far.