Social Networking: Virtue or Vice?

For my term project, I will be discussing Social Networking. I am particularly interested in examining the trade-off between the benefit of being able to meet people that you would have never encountered without the aid of Social Networking, and the alleged detrimental effects of too much e-socialization. It seems as though since the boom of new media, and the addition of social networking sites, people rely more on electronic mingling rather than traditional face to face interaction. I think that the adverse effects are eminent as the recent generations are often not comfortable in social situations as they are so used to interacting via e-mails or text messages. I will touch upon the effect social networking sites have relating to personal growth as well as on a societal level.