"The technology is there and, at last, the right psychology is in place that will make these services explode. And I, for one, welcome our new avatar overlords." A formidable conclusion in a Mashable editorial on the subject. 

But I, for one, sees some major flaws in this most vicarious of conclusions.  The likes of Habbo Hotel in the late 90s became a success because we weren't aware of what social networking could be defined as.  In that vain, we tried to recreate virtual worlds, go to virtual parties, take part in virtual diving competitions and spend our weekly phone credit on credits for virtual sofas (cool Habbo references bro).