Have you ever spent a night on Facebook when you should have been studying for a test or writing an essay due the next day? I, too, have performed such a procrastinating act. Perhaps it was a form of procrastination, or perhaps I was interested in what my friends’ current statuses were, or maybe I wondered if anyone wrote on my wall. Whatever the case may be, the popularity of social networking sites have sky rocketed ever since Myspace became mainstream.
Although I never made a Myspace account, Facebook was all the rage when I was in high school. I would go out to parties where new people would take pictures of me and them and then exclaim, “Oh-My-God, what is your name so I can tag you? This picture is so FB-worthy”. After countless times where I said I did not have one, I caved in. I made a page where I was able to express my identity, which is perhaps one of the reasons why social networking sites have become so popular.
The purpose of social networking sites is to make a profile where you get to choose a photogenic picture (or… not so much), list your hobbies, and let other people see who is in your social network, and connect with strangers or friends of a friend, of a friend. Through this medium, you are able to make yourself appear however you want to other people. You could lie about your hobbies, you could choose a picture from ten years ago, and you can friend random people to make other’s believe you have a large(r) social network. Regardless of how a user intends to use it, the customizations of social networking sites have evolved over time to the point that now I could log onto Facebook and use its embedded instant messaging client or play simple games by downloading an application.
When I created my Facebook account, I made it with the intent the people who began to sound like a broken record, talking about how Facebook is awesome, how they are always on it, and how I have pretty much locked myself in a room by not having one. When discussing social networking sites with my friends, it seems they all created their accounts because everyone else has. After I made my account, I actually realized how social networking sites could become a great resource.
For one, I created it right before going off to college. I am from
I’ll admit that like others, I was persuaded by Facebook’s novelty. From its ease of use to its accessibility (bringing a laptop to class or going to the library), I visited the page whenever I opened up a web browser. I was able to establish relationships with people I normally would not see more than once or twice, such as a friend of a friend. Like cell phones, social networking sites have changed interpersonal communication. For a short while, I thought it changed interaction for the good, but soon I realized that was not the case…
I found this blog topic to be extremely interesting because it directly correlates to my life. As a facebook user myself, I have noticed that it has exponentially improved my social networking. Although several people critique several of these websites and thus think that networking sites such as facebook are childish and not necessary, I strongly disagree. My parents, who are both 50 years of age, are both frequent users of facebook. Though many people assume that facebook is a website that solely belongs to younger generations, I have seen first hand that this is not the case. My parents have utilized facebook to get into contact with old friends from high school, college, former colleagues, family...etc.
ReplyDeleteFacebook relates to my life directly because it allows me to connect with my friends and family on a less personal, yet socially acceptable level. It is much easier to quickly write on someone's wall to let them know that you are thinking of them rather than sending a text, email, or picking up the phone. In addition, facebook has allowed me to communicate with my peers for class projects. Though we all had each other's cell phone numbers, we found it much easier to communicate via facebook messaging rather than text messaging.
I think that there are several aspects of social networking that can and will be explored throughout the course of your blog. I look forward to reading more about the different ways that people across the globe can socially interact and network. I believe that social networking is an important part of our rapid-moving technologically advanced world that we are living in today. I think that by exposing and exploring the different ways that the act of social networking can be pursued in our current society is not only an interesting blog topic, but also a topic that people (especially college students) can greatly benefit from.
This is indeed the age of technology. Back in middle school, I cherished my MySpace page. It was creative, genuine and it was mine. I had the coolest background, the hippest songs and I could express to my friends my current feelings towards them by their place in my top eight.
ReplyDeleteLike you, Facebook’s novelty persuaded me. Through my aunt, who is six years older than I am, I discovered Facebook—those were the days when only college students with .edu email addresses could sign up. However, through the years, it has broadened its members- so broad that my younger brothers and even my mother all have profiles.
I must admit that Facebook is quite addictive. I use my computer a lot, as I imagine everyone else does, and I often find myself inadvertently signing onto the Facebook site. I spend more time opening my Facebook account than I do opening my textbooks. I tend to stay logged on longer than I intended. Even when I am offline and begin to study, I think about Facebook. I always have that urge to log on and see if I have any notifications, new friend requests, event invitations, messages or simply to see who is online. Sadly, I also maintain my personal relationships through Facebook. Instead of picking up the phone and calling some of my friends, I wait for them to get online to chat.
Facebook is a definitely a great medium for social networking. It has become a central way to find old friends, keep in touch with new friends, schedule and find out about events, and join networks of people with similar interests. For some it allows them to step out of their comfort zone; it allows the less sociable to be more sociable. However, it leaves me to wonder are we living our lives more online than off.
You've certainly chosen a hot topic, as social Networking has definitely taken off and I've noticed many internet marketers become successful primarily because of the development of these social networking tools. However, on the flip side, I've had friends who abandon relationships with their respective significant others due to someone leaving too many flirtatious facebook wall posts.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I was able to meet students who I'd attend college with prior to the first day of orientation week. In fact, if it weren't for facebok, I probably would not have met some of the very good friends that I made who lived outside of my residential college while I attended Rice university.
I read that you were originally to facebook for it's novelty. I believe, however, that both friendster and myspace pre-date facebook. In my experience, facebook seems far more user friendly and has far more built-in features. These features and user-friendliness have probably led to it becoming the most popular social networking site.
It’s certainly the case, as you alluded to, that facebook allows users to maintain contact with their acquaintances in ways never imagined before. It’s typical for one to only maintain touch with one’s best friends but lose touch with the not-so-great friends and other acquaintances. Communication via facebook is great for preventing this from occurring. It allows for light exchanges at a far less personal level than emails or phone calls. The picture tagging feature allows one to retain memories of friends and acquaintances from long ago.
I’d be very interested to see you post more about the potential problems that may arise from facebook. In addition to its ability to aid users in recovering long-lost connections, maintaining acquaintances, and previewing who’s hot (and who’s not) in a university’s incoming freshman class, detractors of facebook have cited issues such as violation of rights to intellectual property and lack of data portability. I’m curious to know your possible qualms with facebook and the reasoning behind those supposed qualms.