Into Facebook and Old Friends

Nature Publishing Group, a publisher of scientific journals, for example, has developed a technology that will help scientists sync up through a Web application much like Facebook.

Instead of sharing info about what you're reading or listening to these days, the point of the service, called Nature Network, is to let scientists share knowledge to improve the quality of their work. Popular groups on the network are related around topics like global warming and autism, and the service has thousands of users around the world.

"Ten or 15 years ago, if you were a scientist, most of your communication with other scientists took place at conferences," said Caitlin Trasande, an emerging-technology analyst for the company. "This generation, they don't want to wait until next year's conference."

The company has also held virtual conferences and other get-togethers on an island it maintains in the online world Second Life.

Full disclosure: Caitlin's a college friend of mine who turned up on my radar again after I, yes, started my Facebook page last week.

Kay, the analyst, says it's probably inevitable that Microsoft or Google will snatch up Facebook. The holy grail, for both companies, is to build a Web world that people never need to leave, when they're online. You'll never need to open a separate browser window to buy a book, check movie listings, whatever.

I've been a member of only one sort of social online network that I can think of, and it's a bit of a taskmaster. As I write this, for example, I'm logged onto Microsoft's online network for the Xbox game console at work and can see that my nephew has already sailed far past me in Halo 3's "campaign" mode, even though I had a head start of several days. I feel like I need to catch up.

Fortunately, there's no time to dwell on that because, bing, I just got an e-mail that someone has just written on my wall at Facebook, an occurrence that seems important somehow.

Maintaining that Facebook page, if I don't abandon it, will now end up on the list of modern-day tasks -- along with periodically resetting my cable modem, figuring out better ways to convert movies into the iPhone or PSP format, maintaining a smart Netflix queue, updating my wedding blog and trying to remember to program the Pioneer Inno to record Bob Dylan's show on XM Radio. It's a full life.

Alas, I never ended up writing that news story about Facebook, as I couldn't find anybody to confirm that the Microsoft offer was for real. If you're on my friends list and know something about the alleged deal -- please, "poke" me.