Special Report: The Social Web

Features

Stratospheric valuations for social media titans assume vast advertising revenue that will never arrive. By Bob Garfield

5 Technologies That Will Shape the Web

Innovations that will make the Web smarter and sleeker and irresistibly more social, too. By Elise Ackerman & Erico Guizzo

Privacy, Publicness, and the Future of the Web: a Manifesto

As Google, Facebook, and other companies exploit our data trails to help us connect and communicate, we the people need to establish some basic rights. By Jeff Jarvis

Protecting Online Privacy

We do care about our privacy online, and we can protect it from surveillance. By Siva Vaidhyanathan

Separating Work, Friends, and Family on Facebook Isn't Easy

What happens when Facebook's notion of openness runs afoul of the desire for a private life. By Cassandra Willyard

Armed with Google technologies, four young coders are planting the seeds for the post-Facebook future. By Ariel Bleicher

Rating the Cuisine at Google and Facebook

Where would you rather go for lunch? By Sheila Himmel

Under the Hood at Google and Facebook

A peek at the data centers, servers, and software that keep us feeling connected. By David Schneider, with additional reporting by Quentin Hardy

Campus Life

It’s like the difference between public and private school: Facebook and Google have very different vibes. By Sheila Himmel

Facebook vs. Google: Game On

FarmVille has led a social-game ascendance that will sway the Facebook-Google struggle and threaten the digital gaming industry. By David Kushner

Social networking sites, founded on the promise of free expression, have run into political trouble in China. By Sky Canaves

Virtual Reality and Social Networks Will Be a Powerful Combination

Avatars will make social networks seductive. By Jeremy N. Bailenson & Jim Blascovich

How Many “Friends” Can You Really Have?

Can social networks expand the evolutionary limit on how many people anyone can truly be close to? By Robin Dunbar

THE DATA

Six Billion Friends?

Facebook’s growth has been explosive—but not everywhere. By Mark Anderson

Social Networking Crowds Out Blogging

Social networking is on the rise everywhere, while blogging lags far behind. By Mark Anderson

OPINION

Facebook and Google Put My Grandmother on the Map

Friended by a Milik, Poland, native, the author reflects on the social Web's long embrace. By Tekla S. Perry