It's bad for them, because it breaks the whole concept. The concept is that if you start with requiring real name, you prime people to give you the "real" things you like, your "real" preferences etc. It sets the tone, you are not longer spontaneous, you are "serious". Of course, it's all scaremongering: social networks don't have real informative comment, most people share jokes, mindless pleasantries and play games.
social networks don't have real informative comment
I beg to differ. I mostly use facebook to keep in touch with my extended family. Most of it is updates on our children. While that is probably of little significance to anyone outside my extended family, it is important to us.
Others though use social networks to find jobs, talk about their most recent artistic project, discuss research, and keep in touch with business contacts. And those are within my social circles. If we step further out, they have been used as a tool with major political consequences in many places.
my bad. I meant "content of significance to the general public"; i assume your family could tell who you are just from your picture, the issue here is whether you should use your identity outside the social network when you create such "content of significance". It's very rare that you find original content inside social networks, they are mostly amplifiers for content found elsewhere.
