Social networking is a popular pastime for young people all over the world. Being the biggest fad to drown the world since cell phones, I felt the need to write about it. It's become such a meaningful thing to do in life, that it's taken precedence over porn on the internet. Amazed? No... not really. I mean, do you have a Bebo? Or Myspace? Or Facebook? Of course you do!! We all do. I'm sitting here in the hub (in the early hours of the morning I might add) thinking about the appeal that social networking has. Maybe you participate in social networking for any of the following reasons:
-Your a sheep. You conformed.
-You enjoy spending countless hours telling the world all about yourself.
-You just like keeping in contact with people (honest, that's the only reason..)
-You have stalker tendencies and social networking doesn't breech any restraining orders that may/may not have been placed against you.
-You are experiencing the phenomenon for reasons completely beyond your control. Maybe it's for an assignment? Or maybe your psychiatrist recommended it?
-Someone put a gun to your head and said "join a social networking website now..before I kill you".
-Your a mean, mean person and simply use social networking as a means for cyber bullying. (Mean, mean, mean!)
There could be any number of reasons, and maybe your reason has not be listed. Part of me feels that social networking is merely the tip of our hunger for popularity. Everyone wants to fit in at a young age, particularly at school. Because believe it or not, school is a popularity competition nowadays. There's generally the cool people, the smart people, the people that get along with everyone and the freaks. Young people can treat other young people very unkindly. I'm sure at one point of your life, you've fallen victim to the malicious things children can do to other children. Social networking is possibly separating the "losers" from the "popular people" by means of how much profile views you get, how old your comments are or how much Bebo luv you receive. Sound sad? Yes, it does. However, are you telling me that you've never felt a little unloved or neglected because your Bebo luv count is down?
Different age groups prefer different social networking sites, as do people with different interests. For example, Facebook is seen as a website for older people while Bebo is more for teenagers. Myspace is a site for people who are into music because there's numerous band pages. Myspace is ranked as the top social networking website in the world, with Facebook coming second and Bebo third.
I wasn't surprised at Myspace's popularity because it attracts a wider audience including music lovers and social networking fiends. There's also a lot of social networking sites that haven't quite grasped the momentum to be highly recognised in the cyber world. Sites such as Zorpia and Hi5 pale in comparison to leading sites like Myspace. However, they still generate a large amout of visitors. When I was in school, Hi5 was all the rage. This leads me to believe that social networking is like fashion, trends come and go and when somethings in, it's big.
So, why do we love social networking websites? Maybe a more sentimental blogger would say it's a way of keeping in touch with who we are. I'm going to say that it gives us a sense of identity. It tells the world who we are, what we are. It also allows us to keep in contact with others. But the thing with that excuse is, why can't we just ring them on the phone? Why the obsession with social networking when the person we're talking to, may very well live down the road? Thinking about that (excluding correspondence with people overseas obviously) sort of narrows down the reasons behind this compulsive behaviour and our need to pour out our soul over a shiny black keyboard. Maybe we're just stalking ourselves.
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