AG you said, “Or maybe we could actually, y’know, *have relationships* with the people whose company and concourse we enjoyed, and not waste even a moment worrying about representations thereof, portability thereof, ownership thereof, etc.”Ding, ding, ding. You are the winner! This is exactly the point.When people lose trust, faith that their wishes for privacy, or degradation of service happens (real or perceived) they move away from a service. When these people whose company or concourse is not available do to physical location many move to the next best, technology. When the services in the technology fail, they try other services, and from there they try different technologies.For many the social software is their means to have conversation and interaction with people they enjoy the conversation and company of, not everybody is afforded the luxury to live in Silicon Valley, New York, San Francisco, etc. where ease of direct physical company or concourse is available. But, many of us do the the luxury of having a resemblance of this through the internet and social software.