From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Social networking and real life.

Hello again, I'm Orman Halney, and this is an archived edition of To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's friends, now number a half billion, the major example to date of social networking on the Internet.

Does social networking enhance and encourage the same kinds of human connections we find in real life, or does it do something else?

Is it changing the way people think about themselves and their relations with others?

What does it mean for the news media and commercial marketing?

Does Internet anonymity require new protections for casual users who don't know the power of social networking?

On reporter's notebook later on, we'll hear how divided America really is.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation,

the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation, and the Skoll Foundation, supporting social entrepreneurs around the world, uncommon heroes

dedicated to the common good. Learn more at Skoll.org. Hello again, Warman-Aulne. Back with To the Point.

A new film about the founder of Facebook and the suicide of a student whose sexual orientation was revealed online have focused attention on social networking.

Today we'll talk about what it is and how it's changing the real world as well as the virtual world.

On reporter's notebook, America is divided in so many ways. A new book calls it a patchwork nation. We'll hear about our national

complexity. First, this news update, a few college bowl games already have been played, but the big

ones, including the Rose and Fiesta Bowls tomorrow and the BCS Championship on January

10th, are yet to go. They are the dream of every college team, but some teams are guaranteed a chance to get

...