SNS vs. SNA

I do love my social networking sites, especially when they actually have a purpose a la GoodReads, but I study social networking analysis and I am so tired of people confusing the two. I know this sounds like a petty complaint from academia and it may be but I do think that social network analysis has quite a bit to offer the "real world."
In some instances social network analysis can be scary because a lot can/will be inferred about us given our social ties. On the other hand, well-designed sites based on our networks can help us navigate the web (Google are you listening? cuz I know Yahoo isnt!) It can improve our privacy by limiting access to our information through tie distance. And of course there is the advertising possibilities.
Currently, advertisers now are excited about the prospect of individuals sharing information about themselves on facebook but that my friends is not where the magic is. Oh no! Consumerism is all about social proximity! The phone industry realized this years ago. The power of local persuasion via friends is FAR more powerful than the ads we are bombarded with. The problem was in the past the only data available to advertisers was demographic. Joe Shmoe is a 42 year-old Caucasian male who plays fantasy sports and lives at 444 Boring Ave. But with social networking data we know all the guys in Joe's Fantasy Sports league. If we can identify the influential people close to Joe and offer them incentives to buy things, it will be easy to convince Joe to also buy.
Now this is not revolutionary stuff, I know, but why does it seem that the internet doesn't get it yet? Facebook launches its api and what do they give us Scrabulous. Interactive Scrable? Really? I worked for a whole summer at Yahoo with one of the brightest guys I know. We showed them where the money was but all we got were questioning looks and Mosh.
Well internet you have never failed me, okay there was that one time when you forgot to pick me up for school but I can forget that time, so I wont fail you!
I am meeting with an entrepreneur coach and vc representative next week.
Keep your fingers crossed.