Then it must be!
That’s right, dear readers, Pope Benedict has given social networking his blessing. Don’t go looking for his holiness on facebook, apparently he doesn’t have a personal page.
I do. Are you my facebook friend?
Back to the pope. He correctly advises that virtual friends do not and should not replace real human contact. There is still something vitally important about having conversations that don’t involve screens.
The pope also cautioned against creating a false public persona. I think that he is right on here (you might want to write this down that I agree with the pope on something). It is vitally important to remain authentic in a virtual world. For example, I am still guilty of the spacing problem. Forgive me blogosphere.
The bigger questions for me and I think the entire world are how to translate and use social networking to enable the next stage of a relationship. How can we use social networking to connect and then gather to create meaningful experiences like gathering together for a common justice cause or joining together in prayer? What are your thoughts?
Rabbi Eleanor Steinman 
À propos to your post and to the current Read Local Think Global book selection, you might be interested to read an article on page 6 of today’s Metronews entitled “Do-it-yourself aid worker hits Davos” (http://reader.metronews.ca). It tells the story of Shawn Ahmed, a young Richman Hill man, who has been using social networking to create very positive and fruitful relationships and to make a difference. His experience bears a lot of resemblance to Greg Mortensen’s.