John C. Dvorak looks at how today’s seemingly strong and vital social networks could wind up tomorrow’s smoke.

Sure, maybe you actually do get to know a few people, and it’s certainly true that people do meet through online chats and even get married. I know at least four couples personally who met online and got married. But hooking up is not a community. I’m of the opinion that there is no such thing as a real community online. It’s a “pretend” community that we like to feel we’re a part of, but it’s composed of users who could jump ship at any moment, and often do.

Thus LiveJournal becomes MySpace, which morphs into Facebook, which will morph into something else yet again. That’s less apparent with this trio, since they also act as vanity Web sites and serve other noncommunity purposes. But everyone knows that these systems are flaky and their users fickle.

A great article, where he actually goes back to The Source for a story illustrating his current point on Social Networks.