Like any other mass aggregation of people, peddlers of wares and services, hucksters of all descriptions, and general riff-raff will make these larger social networks somewhat less than useful. There will be (and are) benefits, however, for those who can tolerate the virtually milling masses. For example, the Internet is great at aggregating individuals without regard to distance, for example those who are offering a good or service and those who wish to buy, or patients with rare diseases.

First, I believe that the size of social network is limited by our capacity to interact with much more than a few 100 people. Second, I observe that the Internet makes it easy for people to congregate with other people just like them, rather to seek interaction with a wide range of sources.

Once you get beyond the reach of what has traditionally been a social network (15 people you truly empathize with and maybe 100 who you care about) the value of these new social connections become negligible. The fact that someone is tangentially connected to me does not make them any more valuable of a contact than someone I don't know.

I agree with most of it. What I challenge is the "trust" component. Already, there is evidence of a backlash by some people against the internet, who would contend it's content and messages are too easily manipulable.

People are already on overload. Unless better management and security tools emerge, people may find themselves withdrawing as well.

By 2014, the elementary children today will be entering the work arena. Those who have computer access in their homes will already be so Internet savvy that the smart ones will have information on the companies, the people, and the job opportunities in the marketplace. These same children do now and will continue to communicate using Internet tools: cell phone text messages, palm pilots, laptop devices, IM, etc. Much social activity for the Gen X and Millennial (GenY)groups is currently being done - meeting on the net and dating/marrying etc. This will continue involving foreign country connections as well.

The typical size of a social network of a given person has been estimated very differently, but it's generally been within hundreds typically. Enter the Internet. I am an introverted engineer. I don't remember people's names very well. I don't go to parties. I leave any reception drained. I should have a smaller-than-average social network. Yet, my address book contains more than 1,200 people, and this is only a fraction of the people I know and can reach out to. Whether this will enhance trust in society is quite questionable.

The capacity of one's social network will remain the same (the Internet will not change human capacity for intimacy and trust) as will many aspects of its diversity. Geographically, it will change, as we are more able to build relationships with virtual groups and distant individuals.

I believe that liability concerns and information security will severely limit the amount of verifiable information available over public networks. Thus, trust will continue to be diminished, giving way to a cynical view of Internet information and social interaction. Until some paradigm of trust and verifiability is established, social, political, and financial interactions will be limited to role-playing, generalities, and liability-limited transactions.

It has already happened, so I cannot imagine that using the internet to do everything from search jobs, find like-minded people, etc. will decrease. In fact, as wi-fi and mobile devices become more common and are better made (i.e. easier to use) social networks will only increase. In fact, I suspect that face-to-face time will be radically reduced in favor of digital meetings (with avatars, etc.).

There can be no doubt that the use of contact lists and bookmarks is enhanced by the ease of collecting and storing them through PCs on the Net. It's simply easier and faster to gather and verify information today, and it will only become more refined by 2014.

I agree with the first statement, but not the statement on trust. Unfortunately, we are all still human, and along with the addition of social networks and information flow will come an increase the amount of untrustworthy information out there as well. We will have to become skilled at recognizing the trustworthy information from the non-trustworthy information.

Social networks will change in terms of geography but not that much in terms of size. personal relationships take time and the internet doesn't change the amount of time given to relationships. There will be more information available and more dis- and misinformation. Trust will not be enhanced. There will be better information about products and jobs, however.

It is a given the Internet will provide people with a wider range of sources from which to discover and verify information about job opportunities, personal services, common interests, and products. The question is if they will use it - or will have the capacity to use it. Information overload is a problem - however work with kids has already indicated that hand/eye coordination, and the ability to take in and process more information is evolving. That and the fact that internet search and contextualization continues to improve makes me think this will be true. Individuals and the tools they use are evolving to make people more efficient at taking advantage of access to more people and more information.

I agree that social networks will be larger, but I do not believe that trust will be increased, because the Internet will also bring spam, phishing, worms, and rumor-mongering which will mitigate against increased trust.

People will certainly have an opportunity to ask others their opinions. They can do that now via chat rooms or message boards. The lack of governance in these rooms and on these boards leaves substantial doubt in the value of the information gleaned. As for the development of social networks, it is difficult to fathom the notion that notes hastily sent electronically truly build the bonds required for socialization. Those that believe they do are either remarkably optimistic, or believe that the very nature of socializing will change. If the latter, then there is no quarrel, but then the prediction is merely an exercise in semantic gymnastics.

The size of people's social networks is likely to increase. As some of the existing networks such as friendster.com show, I can make several thousand new "friends" just by adding one person to my network. However, a social network and most certainly trust associated with it are a matter of quality, not quantity. Thus, even though we may be able to draw on even more resources than today, we will still have selective perception, suffer from information overload, and stick to whom and what we know, mostly. Today, compared to ten years ago, there is vastly more information accessible, but most people do not make use of it and, if anything, the widening of our networks and access to everything has decreased trust rather than increased it.

The cost of sorting through the cheap and rapid communication allowed by the Internet will be to much for the individual to incur. As a consequence numerous errors and deliberate misrepresentations will erode social trust.

I only partially agree, because lack of Internet security may result in less rather than more trust. My guess at probabilities: More trust - 50%; no change - 30%; less trust - 20%.

Increased information flow tends to widen knowledge gaps; and it seems clear to me that concerns about privacy, identity theft, and fraud will not diminish very much.

This is already happening, but there are limits to how "far beyond" people can manage extended networks. People use the Internet to get advice, find information, learn about jobs and travel, find vacations, etc. In the past, that kind of information seeking used to be more limited - usually advice from a few friends or family.

Social networks will make it easier to make and maintain connections, but this will not enhance "trust in society." Just as the phone improved communication, but did not improve trust in society.

I agree that the Internet will increase the size of social networks, but I do not think that this will enhance trust in society generally. I do not think this follows - I think people will have to become more wary about what the Internet brings them.

Minor challenge: it will increase the size of SOME people's social networks SOMEWHAT beyond what has been the case. There will be a minority with super-extended social networks that are amplified by Internet; the majority will use it to maintain social networks they've made face to face, or with a few selected friends they've made in online contexts.

I believe that there is an upper limit on the time people can spend cultivating their social networks and maintaining ties, and to the extent people maintain more connections they will be weaker... which is not to say that that won't offer some new sorts of value a la Granovetter and weak ties, but I don't expect it to lead to enhanced trust or social capital in an of itself.

The prediction is based on several assumptions that may not hold true. 1) That a larger social network is a better social network the number of relationships individuals can manage is finite, and nothing about the Internet changes that. 2) That the Internet's main impact on social networks is to increase the number of relationships, when it seems to me the greater impact is on geographic and temporal limits. 3) That more relationships necessarily lead to more information and more information necessarily leads to greater trust. Maybe it just leads to paralysis via information overload. I don't dispute that some aspects of this prediction might hold, but without a critical examination of these underlying assumptions, it's too optimistic.

I agree with the fact that the Internet allows people to keep in touch with a much greater number of contacts. However, I disagree that this change will automatically enhance ''trust in society''. More contacts does not mean I will trust the society in which I live any more than I do now; it doesn't mean, for instance, that I will trust the politicians and business leaders of my society any more than I do now.

People will seek out only sources that confirm their current views and positions, sources recommended by those within their current social circles. This will maintain the status quo.

The Internet is a place where informal communities of like-minded people can ''meet'' and share their views. It will allow, in particular, individuals who felt their views to be isolated ones ... and held them somewhat in anonymity ... to find a voice with others. This can have dangers, just as in groups like the Posse Comitatis & suchlike. But it is also a democratizing force. It is hard to see what the net result will be overall.

Social networks should not be confused with social life. People will seek advice from credible influencers. However this will not necessarily enhance trust. The Internet is already being blamed as the cause of scams, crime and other social maladies that have always existed. This will foster skepticism in some, as others use it more wisely and build trust.

Social networks will expand, but not radically: people only want to know so many people. I agree that people will share more information about products, etc., and improve processes like shopping and job changing, but it won't be revolutionary, just more convenient.

I think the Internet IS enabling people to meet people they would not have met otherwise, but I do not think the size of people's social networks are increasing. I think they are simply getting more specialized. People can get in touch with others throughout the world, but they can easily avoid being confronted with perspectives and opinions that do not agree with their own. The information on the Internet is so vast and so specialized that, although they have a wider range of resources at their disposal, they can keep their access to a narrow range of these resources that meet their specific needs and comply with their specific viewpoints.

While I agree in general with the prediction, the increased size of social networks will also lead to more information having to be processed by any one person. That will tend to either degrade communication or increase the consumption burden of individuals.

The Internet fosters anonymity and self-separatism, which does not ultimately foster trust.