Will You Believe It?: Social Networking Affects the Brain as if One is Falling in Love

This link to an article entitled "Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love" in the July 2010 issue of Fast Company is a fairly long one, but intriguing in its claim: that using social networks can trigger the release of the hormone oxytocin in a person's brain.  Oxytocin is the same chemical which helps forge the bond between mothers and babies.  It is also 

"recognized as the human stimulant of empathy, generosity, trust, and more. It is ..... the "social glue" that adheres families, communities, and societies, and as such, acts as an "economic lubricant" that enables us to engage in all sorts of transactions."

Do take a look.  This is not an article about a widespread, controlled, scientific experiment, but rather an experiment conducted on the article's author by neuroeconomist, Paul J. Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University using an MRI machine.  Still, the findings, even on such a small scale, are too interesting to ignore -- at least for anyone enmeshing him/herself in Web 2.0:

"In a world of social networks, then, this much seems clear: Companies that can connect with us and raise our oxytocin levels should prosper. Those that can't, won't."