BusinessWeek has a story about the rise of net services that connect people in real life. Some people clearly see it as the anti-virtual world approach to social networking. Some highlights (all from page 2 of the story):
"There's a fundamental difference between virtual spaces where people go to see ads and [Web sites] where people go to meet each other," said venture capitalist Esther Dyson.
"People still have hunger for other people. We are still chemical and not electronic," said Dyson.
"People can be a little skeptical about [an online network's] value proposition," founder of Eons.com, Jeff Taylor explains. "Face-to-face meetings are very reassuring. People are feeling they are really getting to know each other."