For the social-media business, this new year is one of grim tidings. Every day, it seems, pioneers in the field are offering mea culpas -- airing regrets, expressing caution, apologizing for a technology that seems to have run amok.
One former Facebook Inc. executive recently conceded that the network is "ripping apart the social fabric." A former engineer has warned of a looming "dystopia." Another veteran admitted that the company is "exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology." ("God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains," he added, portentously.)
