Checking Out Some Social Networking Sites

Facebook

Without a doubt, Facebook is the college student's go-to website.  Facebook has everything from people's wall postings to interesting 'applications' like Organs (yes, people exchange pictures of organs virtually, much like the Gifts application).  Upon logging into Facebook I am presented with a barrage of data (I would call it information, but little of it is important to me).  This is called the News Feed: It is Facebook's once controversial home page that updates based on one's friends' activities.  When Facebook introduced this feature, users virtually screamed and cried foul on Facebook executives through groups since the News Feed was less private than the previous format.  In blogs and messages to users, Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg, calmed the masses by suggesting users would get used to the format and thus understand how Facebook should be used.  He also added more privacy features for the News Feed.  The News Feed of course still exists in an almost unchanged format since its debut.  Facebook has changed into a place where people interact through different methods.  Friends can play games on Facebook applications, they can record videos on each other's walls, they can share links of videos and pictures, they can upload and tag people in pictures, they can join groups, become fans of celebrities, politicians, and companies, and they can message each other privately.  I have many friends on my friends list that I would definitely not consider friends in 'real life.'  This seems to happen frequently with most Facebook users.   It seems that Facebook has become the background of young people's lives, if not at the forefront of an entire generation.

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site that I had heard of before this class, but only that it was basically like the status update feature on Facebook.  Upon hearing a little more about it in the news I became curious.  I signed up about a month ago and have since learned quite a deal.  It really is a lot like Facebook status updates.  The essential difference, however, is that these updates can be seen by anyone with an internet connection (provided the user hasn't made his or her account 'secure.')  Twitter users, or Twitterers, are supposed to answer the question "What are you doing?" whenever they please.  Answers, or tweets, range from what the user is literally doing-watching TV, washing dishes, driving to work-to what the user is thinking or finds interesting-stimulus bill thoughts, football game results, an airplane landing on the Hudson.  I follow mostly news sources that will have breaking or developing news in an area in which I am interested.  Twitter trends can be found on twitscoop.com, among other sites, where a live 'cloud' displays what Twitterers are talking about the most.  I think Twitter is useful for breaking news and gauging public opinion.  It is much more public than Facebook, but Twitterers have less variety in what they can do on the site.  It is also great for voicing one's opinion to the world.  The New York Times made an interactive map that shows what Twitterers were saying and how much during the Superbowl.  Click here