Social Networking Websites: The New Way to Communicate
by Julia Clisham
Websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, Bebo, eHarmony, Match.com have changed the way people interact and communicate in today's society. People use these 'Social Networking' sites for meeting new people, communicating with friends and family, promoting musicians and movies, finding a job and a multitude of other reasons. Myspace and Facebook offer blogs, instant messaging, message boards and forums, photo albums, and the ability to search for anyone in the world, even long lost friends and relatives. On myspace, bands gain free promotion and advertising. Instead of making their own websites, movie and video game producers create myspace accounts to promote their latest movies and games. This is evidence of the fact that people in today's society rely on convenience even when it comes to communication. You can even access social networking sites from your cellphone now. The Iphone is extremely popular for its innovative layout and the fact that a user can simply click on the touchscreen to go to Youtube--a site for posting videos that has become increasingly popular. In addition, these sites allow users to create their own internet persona and grants them the ability to meet people that they would not meet otherwise.
There are over 100 million accounts on myspace. The infamous creator of myspace is a guy named Tom. When you join myspace he starts off as your only friend. He has made efforts to quell the fake profiles and with his staff and moderators attempts to delete inappropriate content and sites impersonating celebrities and bands.
There are drawbacks to posting personal information on social networking sites as well. People are able to trace you, stalk you, harass you, infringe on your privacy or even attempt to steal your identity. Many people report that their accounts have been 'phished', or hacked by someone stealing their login information through a phony login page. Also, members report that people have stolen their pictures to create fake accounts. Though, in some cases tracking can be beneficial. For example, in the case of the runaway teens from Michigan back in January, the reason they were located was due to the police checking their ip address after a recent login to myspace.
Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/21/earlyshow/main3734447.shtml?source=mostpop_story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace
http://www.myspace.com
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.match.com
http://www.friendster.com
http://www.bebo.com
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.fakersbusted.com/members/forums/index.php?action=forum
by Julia Clisham
Websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Friendster, Bebo, eHarmony, Match.com have changed the way people interact and communicate in today's society. People use these 'Social Networking' sites for meeting new people, communicating with friends and family, promoting musicians and movies, finding a job and a multitude of other reasons. Myspace and Facebook offer blogs, instant messaging, message boards and forums, photo albums, and the ability to search for anyone in the world, even long lost friends and relatives. On myspace, bands gain free promotion and advertising. Instead of making their own websites, movie and video game producers create myspace accounts to promote their latest movies and games. This is evidence of the fact that people in today's society rely on convenience even when it comes to communication. You can even access social networking sites from your cellphone now. The Iphone is extremely popular for its innovative layout and the fact that a user can simply click on the touchscreen to go to Youtube--a site for posting videos that has become increasingly popular. In addition, these sites allow users to create their own internet persona and grants them the ability to meet people that they would not meet otherwise.
There are over 100 million accounts on myspace. The infamous creator of myspace is a guy named Tom. When you join myspace he starts off as your only friend. He has made efforts to quell the fake profiles and with his staff and moderators attempts to delete inappropriate content and sites impersonating celebrities and bands.
Myspace offers its members a variety of services, all of which are free. This is probably the reason why it surpassed dating sites like eharmony, match.com, www.singles.net, www.chemisty.com which cost money to use their services: messaging other members and finding potential matches. However, online matchmaker sites are still gaining popularity. Most offer a 'Free Personality Test' that leads to matches with other singles who you may have something in common with. Many people who are busy use them as a convenient way to meet people that they would not have met in a real life setting.
The biggest problem when joining one of these sites is the fact that it is impossible to know who is really behind the opposite computer screen. In an effort to stop 'fakers' many sites have implemented a feature called a 'salute photo' in which you must make a sign with your username and take a picture holding it. The birth of social networking sites spurred a variety of other sites that seek fake users, such as Fakersbusted and formerly, Fakers Suck.
I also think it is interesting that recent generations can use these social networking sites, as well as google, to track down family members or just people who happen to have the same name as they do. Most people in this day and age have typed their name into a search engine to see what comes up. For example, over the years of being a Facebook member, I have been contacted by many distant relatives all over the globe who share my last name. At one point, I was even invited to a Facebook "Clan" that celebrated the fact that we were all very distant relatives, but still shared that commonality of a last name. The fact that you can create a common bond or just connect with anyone, anywhere, at the click of a button, is a social phenomenon that would not be possible without the internet.
The biggest problem when joining one of these sites is the fact that it is impossible to know who is really behind the opposite computer screen. In an effort to stop 'fakers' many sites have implemented a feature called a 'salute photo' in which you must make a sign with your username and take a picture holding it. The birth of social networking sites spurred a variety of other sites that seek fake users, such as Fakersbusted and formerly, Fakers Suck.
I also think it is interesting that recent generations can use these social networking sites, as well as google, to track down family members or just people who happen to have the same name as they do. Most people in this day and age have typed their name into a search engine to see what comes up. For example, over the years of being a Facebook member, I have been contacted by many distant relatives all over the globe who share my last name. At one point, I was even invited to a Facebook "Clan" that celebrated the fact that we were all very distant relatives, but still shared that commonality of a last name. The fact that you can create a common bond or just connect with anyone, anywhere, at the click of a button, is a social phenomenon that would not be possible without the internet.
Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/21/earlyshow/main3734447.shtml?source=mostpop_story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace
http://www.myspace.com
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.match.com
http://www.friendster.com
http://www.bebo.com
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.fakersbusted.com/members/forums/index.php?action=forum