Social Networking Sites as the Cyberfriends Central Station

When was the last time you heard from your high school buddies? Are you one of those people who either hate or love high school reunions? Do you want to know what’s going on with your elementary school friends? What ever happened to the guy in high school that was voted most likely to succeed? Do you want to reconnect with old friends that you haven’t seen in years? Are these the questions that pop in your head when you look at your old yearbook? Or you just want to meet new people and have a little more spunk in your boring life? If your answer is yes to all of the questions then social networking websites are for you.

But what is social networking and aren’t you too old for this? To understand the concept of social networking we first have to know the fundamentals of it. First of all, social networking is a way of rekindling ties lost due to the stress of time, career, location and communication (or the lack of it). In short it’s like a reunion party 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days in a year.

Social networks were originally meant to keep a certain group of people sharing the same interests together. It is achieved by members of a network introducing new people into the group, it can be done personally but nowadays online social networking is more popular. And because the internet is filled to the brim with social networking websites it didn’t take long before people started using sites like these for meeting new people, starting personal relationships and meeting business relationships as well.

People who are engaged in social networking through the internet have varied communities of hobby enthusiasts, social groups, colleagues, practitioners of the same field, colleges and schools and even communities and cities. On the internet there are social networking sites that only allow access to people who share the same interest, there are also free for all sites that allow access to people who have diverse backgrounds and interests. In general, social networking sites are like hubs where people hang out to meet other people.

Some social networking sites also include people searches based on schools, countries, religion, preference and interests. In today’s society social networking sites allow people to maintain communication with friends and family members that are far away from each or have little time to go out and meet people.

An advantage of joining a social networking group is the ability to tell people about your status and progression. Sites like these also allow people to express their thoughts on certain topics and issues that they encounter on a daily basis. Social networking sites also allow people to showcase other talents that they have like groups interested in photography. Others also use social networking sites to gain access to people who could ultimately help them out in the future. It’s also a place where you have freedom to express your opinions on people, events and other topics that you have special interest in without having any fear of people judging you.

There are dozens of social networking sites for you to choose from on the Internet that cater to different kinds of people’ interests like MySpace, Orkut, Tagged, Multiply, Friendster, Yahoo space, MSN Space etc.