Two stories from the BBC which provide an interesting perspective on social networking.
Some comments taken from the article.
Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact 
Peter Bradwell
Demos
Demos
By focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise Mark Turrell
Imaginatik
Imaginatik
There is also an article about a cambridge university study showing that it can improve social skills
