… and his public identity was that of a controversial and prolific author. In this way, Defoe’s style of social networking is closer to that of the twenty-first century than that of his own day. People > Art and Literature People > … or Addison’s circle at Button’s Coffee-House. 8 . Paula Backscheider, Daniel Defoe: His Life (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), p. 41, 34. The world of print proved to be Defoe’s most enduring social network. He began … to him is A Letter to a Dissenter from a Friend at The Hague (1688), which challenged the wisdom of supporting King James II’s attempts to repeal the Test Acts (Defoe, An Appeal , 51-52). From this point onwards, he would go on to …