Social Networking and Virtual Worlds

Social Networking and Virtual Worlds can be used in many different ways by corporations.
Corporations can use social networking sites to recruit new employees (see Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting) and virtual worlds (see IBM's Virtual World for its Employees: IBM LEARNING PROGRAMS GET A 'SECOND LIFE') to train them.
Also companies are using virtual worlds to help drive sales and build brand loyalty (see Toys with a Second Life).
Society benefits from these new technologies because they facillitate greater participation in many different communities (work, school, political, cultural to name a few). Engaged users have a stronger sense of community and therefore responsibilty.
There is a dark side. The stronger communities could also be of a criminal element and with the anonymity of the web this could give unintended support to groups of criminals.

I think social networking sites will evolve to include more ways of contacting people in the "real" world. With the use of map and mashups and the technological advances in the mobile phone market I think this is a logical step.
For virtual worlds I see more businesses exploring their usefulness within the business, but I don't see them becoming a great way for businesses to reach consumers.