The New York Times covered a lot of ground in writing about the net this weekend, but I noticed a weird trend:

• "Joining the party, eager to make friends" — Times headline for a story on marketing in social networks. Later, writer Saul Hansell says, "Companies from Procter & Gamble to J. P. Morgan Chase, like so many lonely teenagers, are tricking out their online profiles and trying to make friends on the Web." [NY Times]
• "Wallflower at the Web party" — Headline for Gary Rivlin's article on the fall of Friendster and its CEO, Jonathan Abrams, who turned down a $30 million Google buyout that would have made him a billionaire today. [NY Times]
• "Google is very leading edge, very young and very appealing to 20- and 30-year-olds. If you walked around with a Google T-shirt, people would think that's a hip thing to wear." — a professor quoted in a Times piece on how Google fills young people's lives. [NY Times]

Looks like the Times just wants in on the party.

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