Online Social Networking- A perspective

Everyone everywhere somehow wants to become famous. People are not always aware of this quintessential desire but somewhere inside all of us is the desire to be known, cared to begin with and admired, revered, craved and what not to go on. It is this nexus of narcissistic desire that drives the present man to do everything that he does. Blogging is one just weak outlet for some who otherwise cannot become so cool . Well, i seriously do not intend to judge or generalize all bloggers to this single thread driving their "fingers" but it seems that i could at least get into the insight of some bloggers though most of them wont admit it.
With the advent of social networking sites, it isn't a big deal for anyone to express..We are all just a "like" or a "wall" away from expression..I sometimes admire (hey i am actually being sarcastic) some of those wall posts to see that these days people write anything or everything on their own wall or someone's Else's wall and the thread of comments keep on following..

People write on anything virtually. Be it the new car they are driving, the new place they visited, the food they ate, the movie they liked to their present activity, location and immediate future goal to their achievements, failures, desires and turn-offs and if nothing else is possible, simply copying a 'famous' quote or a catchy piece of news from the web. But the question is why does people want to keep a bunch of friends, acquaintances or even strangers updated on every nook and corner of their mind, body or soul. It is difficult to gauge. We know amongst all the people we meet, there are some who are keen to talk and share a lot as opposed to others who are happy to listen and barely open their mouth. It is quite evident that people tend to lose their inhibitions, fears or anxiety more easily on social networking forums and come out more easily. So we generate a new set of people who create quite an identity for themselves without the fear of being ostracized by society which in turn acts as a detriment to their opening up in front of public. Thus in short, it is a great place in the virtual world where people can interact, communicate more freely and stay in touch with each other without any of the hassles which social interactions tend to pose.

However, there is an inherent problem which we may tend to overlook. Whenever something becomes quite as easy as this, people become good in it also quite soon. Naturally there is a tremendous sense of competitiveness which develops amongst the fellow users to outshine each other in terms of the quality of the information they share and the pieces of their daily lives that they bring out. Thus starts the process of reverse action. Instead of social sites being the place where people share their social lives, people start manipulating their social lives to be more appealing in the networking sites. Unconsciously the mind does things with the ulterior objective of being a stand out in some scale on these websites.

In terms of statistics, it seems 1 out of every 12 people in the world seems to be using these forums and this is in respect to just one of the many social sites that people use. So no way could we disregard that this has become the part and parcel of our daily lives and it impacts our daily lives in some sort of a way. Our behavioral patterns are constantly being modified in terms of the peer pressure generated from these sites and we have to constantly live up to the expectations.

I was discussing the aforesaid effect that these sites are having on human nature and behavior with a friend and we were concerned whether it is having a positive or an adverse effect on us. He completely discarded the possibility of no effect simply if we take into account the number of users and the average extent of usage of these users. We could not come towards a straightforward conclusion but it seems our social worlds which depended quite a lot on those parties and gatherings which we attended now solely rests on the shoulders of these magic websites which seems to be the answer for almost 10 % of all the people in the world.

Let us intuitively try to gauge what could happen but more so let us keep our eyes open on these sites and keep observing what people does and where humans are headed in the next generation or so.

Author's Note

This is a open discussion. Just to put people into thinking..Please feel free to comment and append to this discussion article

Reviews

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

Life is definitely changing with fewer degrees of separation. I think the online communities have both good and bad. This seems to be the most positive community I've found, but there are others who misrepresent the population.

The dynamics of social interaction tend to be driven by the same derivatives.
Men and women will take photos that flatter the opposite sex. We see the same behavior in public gatherings where people dress to impress. Avatars can be paralleled to pop culture T-shirts. Some people project an image that is contrary to who they really are with their clothing. Many people talk the talk, but never walk the walk.

The only thing that rocks the boat now, is that a person does not have to be at the top of their peer group to be heard. Anyone can speak out with no regards to social status.

Sociologists may be troubled by the internet age...but I dont think that it is a huge problem in general. I think that in some areas such as online predators, we really need to make ourselves more aware as a society.....

But...We as human beings make the mistake of believing that we are some "next level" of life. We actually have the same forces driving our behavior as any other mammal. We are civilized, but the same primal urges shape our actions any time we interact.

The anonymity of the internet allows people to become characters of their own creation and act out fantasy lives from their imaginations. If we take that into consideration, it is hard to build a legitimate population of online personalities. The personality is too complex to even declare normalcy. We can only recognize a basic structure of patterns.

I think the Social experts are blowing things a little out of proportion. People Jockey for Social Status in life continuously in different ways. I think the online world is simply a different platform.

[Helen Woodward]

What people does?????????? Facebook has to be the worst offender, not only is it a social network, but the only thing posted is gossip...sometimes very critical and libelous I might add. I have to tell you that you are on a social networking site here...did you realize that? At least we work!!!
:-)

[Calypso]

Very true.

[Catonia06]

interesting!

[TamiViolet]

I have been a member of this writing community for over four years now, and have reached the conclusion that is is what you want it to be. I have learned the hard way that this is not the place for intimacy but for making online friends and sharing ideas with other writers. It is what it is, pardon the cliche...

I just think you can't take it too personally....In the real world, we learn to accept.... The Cafe can be wonderful... It's all in our perception....yes?

[Geralyn Miller]

Much of the "sharing" I see on the social network sites falls into the category of TMI or gross ignorance. I am on Facebook daily, I am 58 and don't give a damn how many "friends" you have, or how many I have, don't know, don't care. I keep it to my family, my actual friends and people I game with.
Social networks are wonderful for some one like me who is disabled and often not out of the house for months. I miss the world, which I literally roamed in my younger days and all the wonderful people I met along the way. Socail networking enables me to keep in touch with some of them.
I cannot imagine posting some of the moronic twaddle some people call their "status". I don't want to hear a blow by blow of your hangover or your period or your constipation. BORING!
Twitter is the worst. I have come to think only twits tweet on twitter..

[Jen]

I really enjoyed this. It's nice to find something like this that makes me think. I haven't been able to get the hang of the social sites I belong to and can't figure out why Twitter is so appealing and why sharing a mood or that I made tuna salad sandwich (Yoko Ono tweeted that and I loved it). I have always wanted online to be like a very large coffee shop or wine bar where you can talk to anyone about anything, but it isn't like that much of the time. No real communication as much as virtual versions of fancy outfits and diversions from really,truly getting to know people.

[Shaan]

here is the thing man.. social networking sites make people socially cripple.
Imagine your grand dad, busy watching some chick's pics on facebook ... don't you think that would have affected you in a negative way? That's what is gonna happen with this generation's kids..! they are the grand dad here...
.........
Here's my new piece of writing:
http://muskdeer.blogspot.com/2010/12/left-wordless-for-first-time.html

[The Exception]

Good article, makes you really think about what the f**k one is up to when spamming all over internet.
My opinion would be that internet very much is a real place. It isnt some abstract cyber world anymore. To the everyday networking people it is a part of their reality. Words arent just words as we all know. Words and language is what connects all of us together, it is what makes us all be able to understand one another and connect. To be social responsive is to react to everything we meet.

It is a change but as humans it is our nature to find a way to adapt. After all that is our specialty.

As to the internet identity... Sure people can manipulate, bend and twist themselves into fantasy charachters, and in the same time as that is scary and troublesome it's also the beauty. I think that it can help us open our minds to furthter possibilties and views. However how the individual at the time are able to process all of the information might be a problem. You'll have to learn how to sort and how to always remain critical.

But I don't think we should read too much into anything, we will adapt, for sure.

[Coyote Poetry]

World is changing very quickly. I believe between portable computer and telephones. If you are not hooked into the internet. You will be forgotten. You ask many good questions. A excellent story.
Coyote

[Cafe Reader]

I believe, that with all things, it's about balance. Great article!