Turoff, Murray, Virtuality, CACM, Volume 40, Number 9, September 1997, pp. 38-43. the above addresses the philosophical issue of to what the degree the online world becomes the real world. Social networks are a good example of that issue even though they were not as well recognized in 1997. However, a lot of social networks existed even earlier like EIES and like "the well" -- *Distinguished Professor Emeritus Information Systems, NJIT homepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff *