If John and I have played before, I've made John a contact, and I see him pop online, what could I expect to see? Is he online or not online? Would I see what system he's in?

Yeah, eventually you'd be able to see what system, et cetera. We are actually aiming to try and get that into the social module so that when one of your contacts goes online, you would actually be notified. In regards to what systems, since you can't yet leave the planet, you can pretty much rest assured that your friend is on Stanton.