Digital Trends

If you haven't heard of social networking sites, we have only one question: What type of rock have you been living under for the last couple of years? They've currently become the biggest of Internet businesses, with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. snapping up MySpace and Google dipping into its seemingly bottomless coffers to purchase YouTube.

Honestly, you can barely turn around without hearing about social networking. In fact, to an entire generation or two, it's become one of the main forms of personal communication. Having your own individualized online profile is easily eclipsing instant messaging (although you can do that too on some of the sites) in popularity. But to those of a certain age, it seems a mystery. So what exactly is it, and why is it so popular?

A Brief Overview

As of 2006, there were 25 social networking sites that each claim more than four million members, ranging from household names like the once-hip Friendster (remember them?) to Classmates.com (40 million members), Bebo (31 million), and others that are far less familiar, like CyWorld (started for young Koreans) and Gaia Online (the choice of five million for anime and games). In other words, social networking encompasses a lot of topics and genres. 

In many ways, it's been so eagerly embraced by the young crowd because it's a prime example of Web 2.0 principles at work. The websites provide the template and people themselves provide the content that fills the blanks in-between, as they put themselves on display, contact and interact with each other. The Web is simply the forum in which these exchanges and dialogues take place – although online social interactions can extend to the real world quite easily. For example, in England recently, a MySpace posting about a party drew revellers from more than 200 miles away, with partygoers causing an estimated $40,000 worth of damage to the house.

Social networking is a blanket term, really. It can relate as easily to a site that reconnects you to old schoolmates as it does to video-sharing hubs (and yes, there are many more places where you can do that beyond YouTube), photo sites like Flickr or Photobucket, or a buzz-worthy virtual gathering area like MySpace.

MySpace

Ultimately, some sites have bigger reputations than others, and with 168+ million members, MySpace is the great granddaddy of them all. You can upload pictures, videos, blog posts, music… and write endlessly about yourself in the sections "About Me," "Details," "Interests," and "Who I'd Like To Meet." 

You achieve connections by makings "friends," linking to the MySpace sites of others. Essentially, you become part of their social network – and the network of everyone they're connected to. (And, in turn, they become part of both your network and extended network… a sort of ultimate game of six degrees of separation.) You can also download an instant messaging client (a standalone Windows feature) to communicate with other friends who are on at the same time as you. You can additionally leave comments for friends, as they do for you, and there's often competition as to who can add more friends. A bulletin board can provide updates to all the friends in your social circle.

Quite cleverly, MySpace is a useful promotional tool for musicians, filmmakers, and all manner of creative types. For instance, bands can upload their music, advertise gigs and publish their blog. For awhile, at least, creating a large number of friends – a fan base – was a good way to start some buzz about a band, and a couple were even signed based on the strength of their MySpace following, including the Artic Monkeys. (Although they insist their page was actually created by fans rather than the band themselves...)

MySpace Screenshot

Considering that MySpace only began in 2003, it's rapidly become part of the global lexicon. (YouTube was founded two years later, making its international success even more remarkable.) But the service has not been without contention – it has blocked some outside video and was cited for poorly-written code. And, according to some, it has a number of security problems; for instance, the MySpace page of 2008 presidential candidate John McCain was hacked.

Teens as young as 14 can set up MySpace pages, although until the age of 16, the pages remain private, and people over 18 can only contact those of ages 14 through 16 if they know the person's full name and e-mail address.