Brandon Hyman
edited by Susan
People have been meeting each other and making new contacts for thousands of years, but the emergence of the internet and social networking sites within the past few decades has changed the way in which people connect and continues to change the way we communicate.
In the early-1990’s America Online (AOL) brought people a new version of the internet and by doing so, laid the framework upon which future networking mediums could build. It allowed users to create online profiles and interact with other people socially in web-based member groups. At this time chat rooms and dating sites also emerged, allowing internet users to meet like-minded people as well as potential love interests.
Over time, social networking online split into two distinct groups: sites that allowed people to keep track of people they already knew, and sites that let users meet new people. One of the early sites, Classmates.com, allowed reconnections with old friends or, like the title suggests, classmates. This trend of reconnaissance continues today with sites like Facebook.com and crushes any hope some may have had of never having to hear from high school or college enemies again. Check out The Facebook Effect; The inside story of the company that is connecting the world, by David Kirkpatrick.
While other sites like Friendster.com had existed earlier, in 2003 MySpace changed the way people connected entirely. Allowing anyone to become a member for free, the site encouraged members to create profiles showcasing their personalities and allowing their friends, whether known in real life or only online, to post public and private messages on their profile pages. The site created a near monopoly on this type of site until 2007 when Facebook emerged as a legitimate competitor geared toward an older age-group as opposed to MySpace’s teenage demographic. The site allows for members to post images, share news with friends, make new friends, and play a variety of games.
Now that social networking sites have become so common, our relationship with each other has changed. There is now almost no excuse not to be in touch with someone. Before phones, the only method of contact was by mail or an in-person visit. Telephones made contact possible at an instant, assuming both parties were at home. E-mail allowed for instant-delivery messages and cell phones increased the times and places a person could be reached. Social networking sites allowed for more impersonal contact and now that these sites are accessible from a growing number of mobile devices, communication is constant.
Now begs the question: Is our information too readily available? For several years, media organizations have been publishing stories alerting of the danger of making personal pictures and information public. They warn that inappropriate information could be harmful to those seeking jobs, college acceptance, or current employers. While the information is available, sites like Facebook are increasing security settings to privatize information. While the Twitter site’s “tweets” appear in search engines and results will be archived by the Library of Congress. Still, there are many positives to sites like these.
Ever since those early days of AOL, a large part of online networking has been meeting new people with similar interests. Today, there are hundreds of different sites for people from all walks of life, each with its own purpose. LinkedIn.com is a professional networking site where users can create a profile and reconnect with former colleagues while presenting a list of skills and previous experience to potential employers or contacts. Other sites like Gay.com and Pinksofa.com allow users to find and connect with other GLBT people. Still, others that cater to more specific interests like Fetlife.com for the BDSM community and Ravelry.com which allows those interested in knitting and crocheting to share patterns and projects.
There are enough sites to satiate even the most obscure tastes, and with simple sign-up, there’s no reason not to join. Simply log on to one of the more popular sites to connect with people you already know, or peruse the web to find something more tailored to your specific interests, fill out your name and some basic information and that’s it. Most sites allow you to search your address book to find friends you already know, and once you sign up the sites are intuitive enough that you can click around and start communicating with new people today.
