The term networking has taken a whole new meaning in the present day world. From what used to be “being in touch with a few friends/contacts to further your career goals/interests” to “constantly being in touch with at least a hundred people you might or might not know so well for reasons both good and bad," social networking has taken the world by storm.
In the last class that I had attended, the Professor asked how many students were a part of Facebook and then immediately and appropriately rephrased the question to “how many students here are not a part of Facebook?” Needless to say, less than 1 percent of the entire class replied positive to the question.
If you are still not convinced, let me give you some statistics. Facebook was launched in 2004, only 6 years ago, and the total number of active Facebook users is now 350 million! If you are not the math kind, here’s what it means- if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated country in the world, surpassing the population of even countries like Japan (No. 9) and Mexico (No. 10).
Facebook and Blogger lead the list of the most popular social networking sites in the world, followed closely by MySpace and Twitter. Even as you read, millions of people are creating accounts, updating statuses, posting comments and uploading videos, which means that as far as social networking goes, nothing can ever remain stagnant!
Whatever may be the reasons, the power and potential behind these giant social networking sites cannot be under-estimated. At the click of a button, we can now virtually enter anyone’s life and see it all for ourselves. The way we harness it depends on us. Anything that has ever made any difference to the world has always been either lovingly embraced or harshly criticized, and so is the case with these social networking sites.
Follow me into this exciting, never before seen world of social networking, where nothing ever remains the same. From people who swear by these Web sites and are self- proclaimed addicts to people who absolutely detest them, claiming they are nothing but an intrusion of privacy, the world of social networking has everything it takes for it to be a revolutionary medium- the followers, the addicts, the worshippers, the critics, the haters and the hackers.
The question is, which one are you?
