What do John Lennon, Jim Henson, and Les Paul have in common? They were all featured on Google's homepage as doodles, which is the search company's homage for their tremendous contribution to society. Several times a year, Google selects very important people to recognize and validate through these doodles. In fact, these drawings have become so popular that a library of them is now available online (http://www.google.com/doodles/).

Validation is also front and centre of why there are so many exclusive clubs and memberships. We have an innate desire to be validated and we satiate that appetite by unlocking badges, for example, on foursquare, a location-based social networking site. We may also invite friends, colleagues or acquaintances on Google+ to make them feel more entitled. Sometimes, we even have to register with a site, as is the case with Facebook, to access the walled garden of social connections. In any case, social media sites tend to gravitate toward...