My Networks

In 2005 social networking basically consisted of Myspace and YouTube. By 2006 there were more than 100 million Myspace users and more than 100 million videos on YouTube. Everyone knew Tom's name and had seen the video of the man lip-synching the Numa Numa song.
While Mark Zuckerberg created TheFacebook in 2004, it was, at first, restricted to Harvard students and membership was only available by means of an invite. By July 2010, almost 8% of the world population was connecting with friends and family through Facebook. (source) Social Networking has influenced American culture substantially: employers now use Facebook to gauge your hire-ability, Skype helps you stay in touch with friends and family from long distances, and Facebook helps you find classmates or stay connected to family (I sure am friends with my grandma, thank you.) New networking sites continue to pop up. For instance, Google just launched a new site called Google Plus. It is similar to Facebook, but it uses circles and allows you to video chat with friends (similar to Skype.) My dad works as a news anchor in MT and his employers actually asked him to branch out into social media by starting a blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account. (You can read his take on this here at his blog: On the Mark)
Skype, Facebook, Myspace, Google Plus, Skype, Blogger. It's all pretty overwhelming.
I am a pretty big Facebook user. I will sit down at school to start homework and check my Facebook to see if someone wants to be my friend, already is my friend and has something to say to me, or look at someone I wish was my friend :) at least once before my homework is finished.

I started my Facebook page my sophomore or junior year of high school, I think. I have 537 friends and am tagged in more than 700 pictures. To me, those statistics are pretty worthless. I started college in the Fall of 2009 and Facebook seemed like an integral part of college life. I am ashamed to admit that I played Farmville, tagged my friends in and posted every picture I took, and probably updated my status twice a day. Pathetic.

Social Networking websites make me very grateful for real-life socializing. In the past year I have realized a couple things: my life is not interesting enough to post about every day, nor do I have something to say everyday, life is better spent in the company of tangible friends, not online friends, and computers hurt your eyes if you look at the screen for too long.
Friends are the best. I am so happy with the "networks" I have through my friends. Having lived in four states in my life (so far), through being homeschooled and public schooled, and by attending college now, I am very happy with the networks I have started to build. My network started on August 31, 1991 with my parents and my sister Aubrey.
Since then it has expanded to my younger siblings, extended family, next-door neighbors, homeschool/public school friends, church friends, teachers, college friends, and many other circles.

"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose."
~ Tehyi Hsieh

I have a great life :)