Today’s world is a global village, where someone, seated in one corner of the world, befriends another, present in the other distant corner. This magical connectivity, which could have only been imagined at one time, has been made possible by the emergence of “SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES”, or in short SNS’s.
We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.
The world has witnessed the birth of several such social networking sites through the years: in 1996, came in Six Degrees .com,’99 saw the emergence of Asian Avenue, Live Journal; in the year 2000, there appeared Mi Gente;CyWorld in 2001; Friendster in 2002;in 2003 the world saw the inception of Orkut,Linked In, Dogster, My space,Tribe.net,Hi5;in 2005 ,You Tube,Yahoo!360,Xange made their appearance; in 2006 Windows Live Spaces,Facebook(Corporate Networks) made a grand entry.
Ever since their inception, various SNS’s, such as Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Space, CyberWorld have attracted millions of users from around the world, from different walks of life and having different beliefs, cultures etc. These SNS’s have become an integral part of life where people not only maintain pre-existing social contacts, but also end up befriending strangers. They share their views on different socio-economic- political, environmental and other issues, as also, share special moments of their lives through photo or video-sharing. Be it maintaining contacts with a business client, or an old friend, out of sight for a long time, SNS’s serve both professional as well as personal purposes. They may be used by a business organization, as such, or an administrative body for official purposes and business networking, or a community (ethnic or religious, or political etc.) to propagate its ideas, or even a student to access information. Different media organizations too, (both print and electronic) have their profiles in these sites for access to information and news for the hoi-polloi. Today, there are special SNS’s for fathers, housewives, and even people with an alternate sexuality, where they interact and share their views on a global platform. Truly, these social networking sites aid not only interpersonal communication, but communication between the masses world wide and have thus brought the whole world on our computer table or on our lap.
However, no boon comes without a bane. Given the grand, worldwide presence of SNS’s, people tend to be blinded by the outward flamboyance and glitz associated with them, seldom aware of the negative outcomes. Well almost like drug-addicts, people, particularly teenagers become addicted to these sites and develop habits of self-display and narcissistic fascination, in the long run, and end up losing privacy of personal life. The very concept of ‘friendship’, in fact, has got changed, as such, into a bond where every thing is superficial and virtual. Unscrupulous companies and ad agencies come up with advertisements of products and services, with false promises that lead people astray. To add to the woes, are these flesh traders who tempt youngsters into their trap through exhibition of naturism and explicitly.
To start with, such SNS’s had started off with the ideal of a great social responsibility of social linkage. This gradual drift from the main motto of serving philanthropic interests is all a result of misuse of this mighty platform by man. No platform or instrument is “good” or “bad” in itself; it all depends on how we use it. We all have heard this saying “with great power, comes great responsibilities”. The whole Earth is looking forward, perhaps, to a better future, where such great inventions of mankind as SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, will be used with such sense of responsibility towards our present generation and our future.
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DEEPAK
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