Specialized Social Networks Gain Traction

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Facebook continues its meteoric growth; it now claims about 500 million active users. People seem to love sharing comments, links, and photos with the folks in their social circles. However, privacy issues lurk in the background; there's also some discontent over wasting time with the inevitable drivel. Facebook is also increasingly used by companies to support public relations and marketing services and to elicit customer feedback. The question remains whether it will push some users out as focus turns to more social media broadcasting, personal endorsements, and influence. People looking for professional connections will head to Linkedln (which has 85 million members and recently …