In class we had a discussion why people used social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Some reasons are because people like to feel connected to others, and social networking sites help people do that. From the article " Explaining why young adults use MySpace and Facebook through the Uses and Gratifications theory", researchers found five themes. They found that people use social networking sites to have efficient communication, convenient communication, curiosity about others, popularity, and relationship formation and reinforcement.
I feel that the most important themes here are convenient communication and popularity. Many people, especially young adults, use social networking sites to stay in touch with friends they may not get to see as often. For me, it allows me to stay connected with old high school friends quickly and easily. Social networking sites let people communicate at a rate that they desire. They do not have to respond to questions right away, they can wait days later to reply. The "no pressure" communication is an attractive feature for social network sites.
Popularity is also important to many young adults. Many people try to gain as many friends as they can so they will feel good about themselves and feel popular. When in reality, most of their "friends" are not even their friends at all. I think that those who add everyone they come in contact with feel the personal need to be popular. In real life they may not have many friends, but on-line they may have hundreds or thousands. This type of situation is not all that common among young adults now. People are still friends with a lot of people they may not know, but the number has dropped. People believe that those who add a lot of people they do not know, are "fake".
Social networking sites are an interesting new technology. They allow for people to interact and communicate with each other in many different ways. They can chat live, message one another, look at friends pictures and comment on them. These types of sites are being used more often then not and are becoming a large part of our society today.
Social networking sites are interesting and useful for a number of reasons, Kesia -- many of which you've enumerated above. Within my family, these sites permit us to keep in touch -- and "play" -- with my husband's children, who live during the school year in San Antonio, Texas. In addition, we keep in touch with former military colleagues, many of whom we have been out of touch for at least twenty-five years, former schoolmates, family, friends, colleagues, students ... you name it! Those who bemoan the death of the letter (you know, those things one used to get through USPS -- missives from others that were generally written with pen upon paper) credit social media with hammering some of the last nails into the coffin.
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