Checking out some Social Networking Sites

Wow, I never knew there were so many social networking sites out there! Does that mean I'm outdated since I'm only register under 1 social networking site which is Facebook. I also visited MySpace, Friendster, and Moli (a new one for me). I found these social networking sites very similar to each other. By using these sites, users can stay connected with old friends, make new friends, share personal profiles, add applications of interest, and customize your page. There are so much you can do on these social networking sites because the creator(s) provide users so many applications (music, art, accessories, message boards, etc.) that a person can have endless amount of things on their page. Also, I notice that promoters for that social networking site try to make personal privacy a major concern when trying to get new people to join. For example, the slogan for Moli is "Control Your Privacy". With so many scams and frauds floating around the Internet, people need to feed safe about sharing and putting up information about themselves. As for which one is better, I can't judge because people have different criteria when choosing which ones suit them more. It is like choosing which brand of clothing (Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch) to buy while they both carry the same styles and from the same company.

Social Networking and Virtual Worlds

As an individual who lives in a time-poor society, I think social networks and virtual worlds became one of the many necessities for online users. People use social networks and virtual worlds to communicate with others and expand self-interest. A person can meet someone just by adding a friend on Facebook for MySpace and talk or interact by sitting in front of a computer screen. It is that simple. Whereas back then, people meet by scheduling in advance and taking time to travel to meet that person. Through social networking, people can meet more people faster as well as exchange information efficiently. Business people use social networking to hire workers or obtain information through connection of another worker. Some companies don't have time to wait or go out and find people that have the skills they want; therefore, they use the Internet to their advantage by looking through people's profiles in search of the skills they want. As for virtual worlds, companies can use them to arrange meetings or promote products to consumers under 3-D environments.

There are definitely beneficial factors to social networking and using virtual worlds. As I've mentioned before, it saves time to communicate over social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. I don't see more than 1/2 of the people that are my friends on Facebook in person due to work and school. But with Facebook, I can get a glimpse of what they are up to through their Facebook page. In social networks people can easily find others with common interest and share information along the line of that subject. Remember, no one is alone in this world. As for virtual worlds, people are allow to expand their imagination and explore places things you want to do in real life. People are free to do so much with their avatars in the virtual world then in reality.

Is there a "dark side" to social networking and virtual worlds? Yes. The main thing about them is they can be fake. But who can judge whether something is fake or not? No one. People who uses these social networks and virtual worlds should be careful about who they meet and what kind of information is being exchange. Similarly with what was being asked in the article "At Hearing, Real and Virtual Worlds Collide" on WashingtonPost.com, "Could Second Life be used as a place to launder money? Are children safe in online worlds? Are there churches? Are you making any money?" All these questions are debatable. This means that there are still some uncertainties in using social networks and virtual worlds.