Gather has a certain refreshing honesty in proclaiming it wants to bring publishers and people together. I wonder how many Gather posts booming a title originated in a corporate office not in a booklover's head? However, as long as it's all screen names and personae, we'll never know, will we? I looked at some sites that say they are interested in things I'm interested in, and they were OK, a little heavy on the feedback and a little light on the content, but aside from my concerns about stealth commercialism, not bad. However my reservations expressed previously still apply. People who function well in groups will probably love these. Those who function better alone won't. One can only hope that libraries and their administrators will recognise the difference in operating style and let the staff member choose how a task will be done and what tools will be used.
I am not group-oriented, so I doubt I'll ever use any of these sites, but it is useful to know that they exist.
Late-breaking news. I see on the BBC this morning that the UK government wants to monitor social networking sites for gang-related activities and terrorists. Read it for yourself: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7962631.stm And what happens on their side of the pond could happen tomorrow on ours--or maybe already is. Consider that next time you become somebody's "friend"--you may get some nasty guilt by association by someone who gets his information on due process from Kiefer Sutherland's writers.
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