Social Networking Sites

When I hear the term social networking sites I am immediately inclined to think of all of them as serving the same purpose- as a medium and facilitator for communicating with others.  Yet, each social networking site is not made equal; each has developed its own particularities that set it apart from the rest. 

The article "Who's Driving Twitter's Popularity? Not Teens" very accurately defines Twitter to what I think it is.  It states that Twitter is best for broadcasting ideas or questions and answers to the outside world rather than staying in touch with acquaintances.  I signed up for Twitter because this class required me to and instantly I began receiving emails with news of what is being tweeted that might be of interest to me and what is popular. Now, these suggestions come from what others are following, which can and can’t be of any interest to me.  Despite this, I noted that what dominates is "a network where content is mostly public" whereas a social network "is optimized for friend communication."  Moreover, Twitter lets you search keywords that turn up whatever is of your interest, whether it be a job posting, a company anything really.  Thus, one can join by tweeting or follow.  In addition, the concept of retweeting solidifies the notion that Twitter is more for broadcasting and marketing.  The mere fact that communication happens at such a large scale and reach is made that much more possible through retweets.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook is of a different makeup.  I think that Facebook is better at keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances because it is more private.  When I say private I mean it in comparison to Twitter.  Facebook is structured completely differently, one doesn't follow, one has friends/family.  Moreover, although many people and corporations have Facebook pages it does not have the same functionality that Twitter does.  Each medium can accomplish different things due to its structure.  I feel that Facebook is more "rooted", maybe a bit limited, and not as quick as Twitter.  However, this is how it was designed to be- somewhat more meaningful and not passing.

On the other hand, when I visited MySpace, something which I had not done for years, I was reminded why I stopped using it.  My profile remains the same as when I first joined, empty and without a profile picture.  I find that MySpace simply lags and didn't achieve what Facebook was able to excel at- optimizing friend communication.  Now, the idea behind MySpace is somewhat similar to that of Facebook, in fact, I don't know what the difference really is.  One has a profile, which is actually more customizable than that of Facebook, who has a consistent unified "look".  In addition, on a MySpace page one can have more information about oneself visible.  Despite all this, I find it uninteresting and a poorer means of communicating with others.

I was inclined to create a hi5 account a few years ago and revisited it today.  Just as with my MySpace visit, I felt compelled to log off.  Hi5 is another social networking site more similar to Facebook than MySpace is.  I had never heard of it until I traveled back home and found out that in order to keep up with my family back there I had to get one.  To my fortune, they have all "upgraded" to Facebook, but Twitter still is a completely uncharted territory for them.  Hi5 is like a mash up of My Space and Facebook, but it too lacks the ease of use and doesn't function well as a facilitator of communication.  Yet, when I logged in I was noted one aspect that made me think that hi5 was an early indicator of what Twitter is now.  This site encourages public exchange and communication; it also makes completely random out of nowhere suggestions like MySpace does.  I believe this is because it sought to truly create a network amongst people.

Each of these sites has a different structure and given it is better at it than others.  Although they are all social networking sites I feel that in a sense, just like a corporation has a corporate culture, so to do these sites.  Moreover, as we have seen via Twitter, short hands have developed on their own given the nature of how things occur in that website.