Social networking and the self

I thought I’d take a break from writing an event management system to write about social networking. I’m not going to say anything that hasn’t already been said, but I just felt I needed to brain dump my thoughts on the matter.

Social networking is arguably the basis of the web 2.0 phenomenon. Sites like Myspace, Bebo & Facebook have grown exponentially in popularity over the last few years. But why? Many say it’s due to the fact that they provide an on-line interface for you to interact with your friends and people you don’t even know. This is surely true, but I’m not convinced this is the real reason for the popularity of the sites.

People love talking about themselves. The golden mistake to make when meeting a new person is to talk about yourself. It’s so easy to do, and we gain much pleasure from doing so. Who can deny that they enjoy being the center of attention? Interestingly this idea translates directly into the social networking world. Those people who have a lot of “friends” on Myspace or Bebo or Facebook are the ones who’ve put a lot of information up about themselves. They’re the ones who’ve filled out all the forms to an almost anal degree. They’re the ones who’ve put up information on “What superhero are you”. They’re the ones who plaster their profiles with photos of themselves and their friends. Why have they done this? It’s not for the benefit for those who visit their profiles. It’s for their own benefit. It’s so that they remain the focus of the page.

Social networking is often not about networking with friends and acquaintances, it’s about the self. It’s about putting as much about yourself on-line as possible so that you effectively stay “the center of it all”. Please don’t get me wrong, this is by no means a criticism. It is merely a remark on the way that social networking has evolved. An idea which started out as a means of networking groups of friends together has become a means of putting yourself at the center of the on-line conversation. Myspace is the worst perpatrator for allowing such activity. The reason for this being that it gives it’s users near full reign over the look and feel of their profile. Meaning that they can “express” themselves any which way they want. Meaning that the emphasis shifts from the networking aspects of the site to emphasis on the self.

I recently joined Facebook and was pleasantly suprised to find that it’s emphasis is on the networking aspect as opposed to the self. Groups effectively take center stage, you don’t have free reign over how your profile looks, you can tag other peoples photos and you can build up networks of friends/contacts. The ethic of Facebook seems to be firmly routed in building up networks as opposed to building up personal profiles. Surely this is what social networking was conceived for? Having used Myspace for many years it was refreshing to see the Facebook stance on things. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to give up on Myspace, not at all. Myspace is by far more the most “fun” of the social networking sites. I still like it’s quirkyness, but Facebook is more of what a social networking site should be.

Let’s hope that Facebook keeps the emphasis on the networking aspects and doesn’t allow it’s users to implode and concentrate solely on themselves.