Between updating your photos on MySpace, messaging Grandma on Facebook and Tweeting your latest political opinion, you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

 

MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are just three examples of the booming business of “social networking.” This buzzphrase has become more than just that, it’s an undeniably growing entity.According to Web Strategist Jeremiah Owyang, it is the fourth most popular online activity, in front of checking personal email. In fact, nearly 150 million people use Facebook daily, and 76 million are Myspace members. And these numbers are growing rapidly.So it’s here and probably to stay, but what does that mean for us as a generation and community?

On the negative side, “they devalue the meaning of ‘friend,’” says Judith Donath, associate professor at the MIT Media Lab. “On social network sites, a ‘friend’ may simply be someone on whose link you have clicked.”

It may begin to effect how people communicate. “We are losing a lot of our intimidations,” says Mark Woolsey, Yavapai College Communications Division faculty. According to Woolsey, there is a trend of aggressive and hostile communication patterns in a “cyber world” that is often civil discourse in person.

Privacy and security are often sacrificed when creating a social networking profile as well. “Hot companies use social networking for screening,” says Woolsey. However, on a public forum privacy is a rarity.

Despite these growing concerns, there are undeniable benefits to social networking. “I keep in touch with friends I’d otherwise lose touch with,” says Nikki Turner, a 27 year old Yavapai student. “I talk to my sister in Tempe every day.”

Turner takes full advantage of social networking, with a MySpace, Twitter and Facebook account.  Turner checks the triumvirate of social sites several times daily, not only on her computer, but from her phone.  

“We’ve gone from Fireside chats to Wireside chats.”

Keeping in touch with “long lost” friends can be like an “everyday Christmas letter,” says Woolsey. Such sites allow people to update their daily lives to people who they may usually only contact with a Christmas card. 

In the changing world of communication, social networking sites are becoming a mainstay. Woolsey admits that   without his own Facebook he often feels ostracized. 

The truth stands that social networking is effective and relatively new, giving people possibilities to connect in ways that were before impossible.  

Even political figures are jumping on the bandwagon, with President Obama reaching new generations with his personal Twitter. “We’ve gone from Fireside chats to Wireside chats,” says Woolsey. 

And the sensation is spreading, with a demographic no longer limited to high school and college students. “Forty-five percent of Facebook’s U.S. audience is now 26 years old or older,” says Owyang. Beyond keeping touch with old and new friends, people are now able to bridge the generation communication gap and connect with family. 

Is it worth it?

“Social technologies never have predictable and absolute positive or negative effects, which is why social scientists dread questions like these,” says Nicole Ellison, assistant professor of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University. 

William Reader, professor of psychology at Sheffield Hallam University and social networking site researcher says, “My view is neither utopian nor dystopian…But like anything  – apart from motherhood and apple pie  – whether this is good or bad depends upon what kind of society you value.”