Social Networks curb Loneliness

In a recent article in Science News entitled "The Ties That Bind" by Lisa Grossman social networks are looked at as a cure for loneliness. This is a surprise to me as I have been lead to believe that anyone who spends hours on Facebook or Twitter is navigating a fictitious reality and not experience true relationships. According to this article researchers are hoping that by gathering Internet search information, tracking cell phone and credit card usage, they will be able to reduce depression. Of course this means that the information put into cyber universe that isn't protected under a privacy act, will be used to form large assumptions about social habits. My question is, "are the behaviors and attitudes people portray on social networks true?".

I am a member of Twitter and Facebook more out of necessity than real utilization. Once in a while I take the time to go through the pages and thoughts of "my friends", some close and some not so close. Some post pictures that would be considered very personal and others post ideas or updates that are borderline bragging. So is this their reality or how they desire to be viewed? I guess one will never know. However, this ambiguity could result in misleading results when it comes to social experiments. In order to utilize the data gathered from these sites a control data set must be used that can be proven to be valid.

Statistics from Internet data is great, but if scientists are considering to use this information for treatment purposes, it must be done in a way that does not compromise the needs of the patient.