In regards to the facebook vs. linkedin article. I will say that while facebook does miss out in marketing a "newsfeed aggregator" with your friend's latest events, marriages, etc. Linkedin can afford to do this for a couple of reasons.

LinkedIn is business or career focused website, while facebook is personal, or social website. We are career orientated people and don't mind reading newsfeed of promotions, company failures, successes,etc. In other words, business news is an easy read, while relationships which facebook specializes in, must be handled more carefully.

So, while showing A "linkedin" style who's on top, who did well this year, etc, who got promoted --- this works well in career orientated discussions. Relationships ---who got married, dumped, friended etc, borders on personal and relationships and must be handled carefully.

WHat I would suggest, for increased " networking" or "interaction" for facebook users would be heat maps of users friends. So for example, you can view your user's friends or your friends with a us or global map showing where the most concentration of friends is, and how they moved or changed over the last 1-3 years.

Maybe that is or isnt such a good idea.. comments, feedback..