Another thought on this topic has occurred to me today... this social connectivity is not new, just the way we do it. The technology with 'facebook' Linkedin and the other sites are the new 'Elks Club' in our virtual world. Back 40 years ago when "Bob" lost his job at the neighborhood car dealer, his wife "Sue" would talk to one of her friends at the PTA or Girl Scouts or whatever and that woman would talk to her husband about "Bob" and a few days later "Bob" would be offered a job at the dealership in the next town over that is run by the brother-in-law of his wife's friend.

That's social networking... just like when my Grandpa got the guy next door some help one winter with his heat when he wasn't working by talking to some friends at the club they belonged to and they, as he would say, "took care of it." My guess is that there is still a lot of that going on yet today.

So, I say stay in touch with others on-line, at the family picnic, with that group of guys you play poker with twice a month. Being social is a natural thing and should be a part of any long range planning for the 'unexpected' in life. The author of Connected is onto something but it sounds a lot like common sense to me. Be careful not to get "lost" in the on-line stuff and be realistic. This group is an excellent example of how to do it very well and right.