Ten years ago if you asked a class of students if they participated in social networking I think the majority would have said no, however these days ask our class and you would be hard pushed to find anyone who doesnt encounter some form of interactive social networking environment on a daily basis. This form of social networking has swept the globe and become an addictive part of everyday life for most 12-30 year olds.
Im sure most people in our eBusiness would say that they check their Facebook accounts at least once a day and now with so many different social networking sites - checking all accounts is becoming more and more time consuming - with Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, MySpace, Second Life and the list goes on and on.
Sites like Facebook are great for not only chatting with friends but also for finding out how friends are getting on and what their doing through status updates, also communicating and reconnecting with old friends and even family with whom contact has been lost.
Facebook is also a good way of sharing onformation such as photos, videos and links to other websites.
Social networking sites are addictive, some people say how can you spend so much time on Bebo or Facebook... well I say to them how can you not?? When I log in to Facebook before I even get to look at my home page or the facebook home page there is a half hour procedure of checking your notifications, then you might have friends requests to accept which are not just people who want to be friends with you but also applications which friends want you to join or if you've already joined them then there are 'gift requests', 'hug requests', seasonal 'snow ball fight requests'.
Even if you were just to click ignore on all of them its still time consuming. Then you finally get to looking at the home pages and certain things catch your eye like such and such has UPLOADED NEW PHOTOS, and off you go... And just when you think you've had enough and go to sign off that person starts 'a chat' and your stuck there for another hour.
Here is a snap shot from my Facebook page and while its not very clear you can see that there are many different aspects attracting the eye at the one time. For instance on the right hand side at the top of the Facebook page their are numerous requests and at the bottom of this side there are notifications which appear with a red speech bubble...
I have used Facebook a lot to describe social networking, but obviously it is not the only form.. It is simply the one which I am most aware of, and the one which I interact with each and everyday (free broadband in my college house :)!)
Social networking is a phenomenom which has took the world by storm and has brought the Internet in particular and latterly its users into a new and exciting era of interaction.
Its the best thing since sliced bread - or should I say texting... Walking through Dublin last weekend I stopped at the spire and as I was standing there two boys where saying goodbye and one said 'So when are we meeting tomorrow night?', the other replied 'I dont know yet but I'll facebook you when I find out..'
Facebooking has turned into a verb now??
Social media will dominate the world, I fear, and I say 'fear' because it seems inevitable that verbal communication is largely being swapped for technological exchanges of data and evermore people are getting on there laptops to communicate with friends rather than walking down the street or picking up the phone...
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