Social Networks – social or not?

I was definitely a late conformist to the world of social networking. I was always adamant the best way of staying in touch was to simply pick up the phone and have an actual conversation with whomever you have called.

However gradually the popularity of networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace

grew and I felt somewhat left out of the ‘latest craze’ buzzing around my friendship groups. Friends were sending out group invites to social events that I wasn’t receiving and I was the one getting in trouble for not turning up to them! They should have just called me surely?

It appeared that the easiest option was to simply conform to keep everyone happy. So after much uncertainty I chose Facebook as the platform for my profile as this seemed to be the most popular with my friends so it made sense.

I felt a little silly to start with, filling out my interests and ‘relationship status; trying to be informative but not too informative. Then came the absolute nightmare of choosing the profile picture. To pose or not to pose...? Once this was all sorted though I still didn’t feel the same excitement the rest of the world appeared to be appreciating. What was the point?

I have now been a fully fledged member of Facebook for just over a year. In that year I have connected with almost 300 people, half of which I would never have called or spoken to again had it not been for this social site. I am in contact with old school mates, old teachers, people I met on holiday, distant family, old friends who moved abroad...never would I be in this position had I just used my phone (imagine the bill for starters).

Synovate research showed that more than 132 million people visited Facebook in June of this year and 117.5 million landed in MySpace. Imagine how many people are sharing a similar experience if this is the stat for just one month of the year. Imagine how many people are in contact after years of nothing.

So we ask again – social networking, is it actually another way of being sociable or just an opportunity to compete as to how many ‘friends’ you have. Maybe a bit of both, but I am glad I conformed.

By Kelly Hopkins