You don't need to make payment links with your friends;
Absolutely right, and this is confirmed by the principal architects of Nouveau Ripple:
...we're not relying on community/social credit. We're promoting Ripple as a payment system based on gateways. The social credit system will always be there should people be ready to use it.
And
I think it's reasonable to only make "business-related" links...
Also confirmed by the Nouveau Ripple architects:
...the path will almost always be either:
Payer -> Gateway -> Recipient
or
Payer -> Payer's Gateway -> Middle -> Recipient's Gateway -> Recipient
Your article focuses on the social credit system but that's not where the "money" is (literally). This is from the horse's mouth. Pay more attention to the man behind the curtain.