The web has been characterized by frivolous services that never catch on. Do you remember VRML and the exciting, immersive 3D worlds we were all supposed to be shopping in now?

The web has shown that technologies that stay do so because they connect with people in the real world. Look at email and digital photography services. The key to the survivability of a new system is its real-world benefits.

Enter the newest trend in web services: social networks. LinkedIn understands what it takes to last. LinkedIn hands over direct contact information once a connection has been made, instead of trying to build its own virtual community. LinkedIn doesn't have pictures, which most users on other systems use to show off their Photoshop skills or cleavage, real or otherwise.

Social networks like Tribe and Orkut reward power users who rack up hundreds of contacts - which are meaningless in the real world. Being connected for the sake of being connected is still dumb. I don't think the day of immersive internet communities is here yet. And I do think social networks that aren't grounded in real world contact will pass like a hundred other web trends.

My brother-in-law lives in Northern California and was recently commenting on the uncanny frequency of finding Church's Chicken franchises in the worst parts of town.

This phenomena, if accurate, would be a great way to avoid staying in/driving through/moving into a bad neighborhood. For those of you interested in testing the theory with me, you can now check your neighborhood for a Church's using their store locator on their website.

Well, move over Friendster, LinkedIn, Tribe, Ryze and ecademy, there's a NEW newcomer to the new social networking craze: Orkut. I swear that was a province of the Former Soviet Union, but now its the newest kid on the social networking block. And this kid has an older brother you've probably heard of - Google.

Anyway, having eagerly signed up to pretty much every such site on the internet, including Orkut, I can say that I'm really not sure I can keep them apart. Apart from dumb extra features and differing interfaces, there's not much to holler about. Orkut may be the most entertaining of the bunch. You can rate your friends. That's fun, but you're restricted to searching people by interest or location, not company.

Apart from the chic novelty of an invitation-only site, I don't see much new in Orkut. Of the dizzying blur of sites, the only one that has done me any good is LinkedIn. You can't beat the caliber of people you find on LinkedIn.

If you're lost and looking for a friend on any of the above networks, look me up. If you're looking for an invitation to Orkut, try me at brian at macmerc dot com.