Who is Farhan Lalji?

I read a posting on mashable for chess.com a few weeks ago, and I can’t shake the thought that vertical social networks are a waste of time.

I know that some vertical social networks are turning a profit and closing vc rounds and getting a lot of pub (like Dogster and Catster getting a $1Million), but I just think the absolute user numbers benefit the big social networking sites and the groups on these sites.  I took a look at chess.com and it claims to have 5000 members since it’s soft launch, compared to facebook: with 24,480 users with the chess application installed, and over 500 groups created for chess enthusiasts.

No body has one passion, everyone has many.  I love basketball, but I also am passionate about technology, business, politics, hockey, golf, music and various other interests.  Personally, I like to keep all my interests and passions together and can’t see myself ever joining a vertical social network.