Social Networking

I heard it or read it somewhere that "social networking sites are for people who have no real lives." Ironically that seems to be true, particularly the part where busy people don't have time to use social networking sites.



I have tried to avoid social networking sites, but inevitably some of my friends just have to have me added to their list of friends on their favorite site. Previously I limited my presence to a few and restricted that to small bits about myself. Soon I had accounts on Yahoo!360, Hi5, Ringo, Tagged, and WAYN because people kept inviting me. Some friends decided they wanted me on MustHavePets and MyTribalSpace as well, so I ended up with profiles all over the place.



When MySpace when big, I originally had no intention of ever setting up a space on it ~ until last December. I found a friend who only had a MySpace account (argh!). So I set up an account and asked to be on my friend's list. I was on my friend's contact list for maybe one week and a jealous sister-in-law required removal of me from contacts (not even a spouse!). Go figure. So nine other contacts later, I still have a MySpace account.



Facebook became a huge thing after MySpace, and again I had no intention of setting up an account there either. Two friends invited me (one having only Facebook as a contact place), so again I reluctantly made an account in March. The worst part of this site is that you have to use your real name and if you wish to change it you better have a really good reason (preferrably with legal backing). The best part is that no one can see much of your profile unless on your friends list.



I still have a number of pet peeves about Social Networking sites.



1 ~ I don't visit any of them regularly as I don't have time to invest in this sort of social networking.



2 ~ The software often restricts certain aspects of information you save or the styles you can use.



3 ~ Too much personal information is often required by these sites even if not displayed.



4 ~ A lot of time can be invested in just setting up your personal page to get it presentable, and often it is barely that.



5 ~ Personal pages often become too cluttered with extra images, misaligned graphics, and ads.



On the plus side there are ways to organize your internet presence. Often you can include a list of your favorite links which is very helpful in establishing interconnectivity between so many different profiles.



For those who wish to maintain a perpetually changing profile on a Social Networking site, have fun with it but don't let it rule your life. There are lots of other things to do out there. In the meantime, I will continue to do the other things until I feel a desire to update, change, or add something to one of my profiles.