Ryan Sayre Patrico noted yesterday how he heard the news of his two friends’ deaths last week on Facebook: “The horrible news was announced almost immediately on the popular social-networking website, sandwiched between two other people declaring that their weekend hadn’t lived up to their expectations.”

For an insightful read on how social-networking sites are changing how we view friendship and how we communicate, look to Christine Rosen’s New Atlantis essay, “Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism.”