A Social (Networking) Phenomenon

Never before have millions of people had the opportunity to connect so easily.

How is a social phenomenon measured? A mere ten years ago, the concept of online social networking was paid little attention. Now, there are 65 different social networking sites with over one million registered users. Of these sites, 39 have ten million or more registered users and 5 of these online networks have over a staggering one hundred million registered users. (For perspective, one hundred million people is 32.7 percent of the population of the United States.)  Global society survived centuries upon centuries without the services of Facebook and Twitter – but just like any phenomenon, these sites satisfied a need within the population. But what exactly is the niche that social networking inhabits, what turned websites formed in college dorm rooms into a billion dollar industry, why is social networking a social phenomenon?

A Little History

Friendster became the first online network to capture the attention of a global audience, after its development in 2002. One of the first to pioneer the creation of online profiles, Friendster allowed users to meet new people and connect to friends at an accelerated pace compared to every day life and face-to-face interaction. The site went live in early 2003 and attracted millions of users quickly as media outlets heavily publicized its success. Friendster declined in popularity as competitors arose within the industry, namely Myspace in 2005 – later giving way to Facebook as the most popular social networking site on the internet.

But Why?

As our global society progresses further into the 21^st century, technological advancements have placed an emphasis on efficiency (less time, better results) and ease of use.  This motivation for progress has affected us in a variety of ways in many facets of daily life. Social Networking is a perfect example. As “Human Social Interaction 2.0,” social networking has impacted both the efficiency and ease of maintaining and acquiring relationships. It may seem funny to consider such an upgrade to the intangible human construct of interaction, but the simple fact that social networking is connected to this fundamental necessity justifies its status as a phenomenon.

Facebook and others provide games and applications for their users, tangible motivating factors for signing up and logging on. Myspace created an extensive music network, giving countless bands notoriety and millions of fans. Profiles can be customized, pictures and videos uploaded, but these reasons alone did not bring 300 million people to register for an account on Facebook. Rather, the success of these websites can be found within primal human instincts.

Social interaction is a human need and an unavoidable occurrence. Yes, there is the occasional recluse, but (especially within adolescent years) humans strive for contact, relationships, friendships, love. In pre-Facebook society, these connections needed to be made through face-to-face interaction, not always an easy task. Making “friends” is now no more difficult than clicking a button. Communicating with current friends and reconnecting with old ones can all be accomplished through one medium. Social networking has taken these inevitable occurrences and made them effortless.

Another facet of the widespread success is the desire to remain informed and updated with the newest information as fast as possible. Facebook statuses and, most notably, tweets (posts from Twitter.com) relay – often times irrelevant – information in usually two sentences or less. With this function, social networking caters perfectly to this need that has developed within the past decade, giving everyone the capability to know, essentially, everything.

How Much is too Much?

While these sites emulate natural interaction, they are being carried out on the frontier of the Internet where clear boundaries and limits have not yet been formed. Jeff Olson, a researcher for the education company, Kaplan even referred to it as a new, “Wild, Wild West.” There has been much publicity about how Facebook, in particular, impacts decisions with regard to college admissions and employment. According to the Wall Street Journal, “A new survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social-networking sites to evaluate applicants.” The rebuttal is most commonly that these online profiles only display a partial view of a student or prospective employee. While this is true, the extent to which social networking has revolutionized communication and human interaction, in my opinion, gives credibility to the use of profiles as an evaluative tool and puts the responsibility on users to learn how to moderate and remain aware of what information they share with the world. With any new technology comes the learning process. Yes, Facebook has caused much controversy, but many networks have been optimized for education and business, as well as pure social interaction. Our next task will be to adopt the principles used in face-to-face communication and re-learn how to convey what we want to say through what we type. If we can reconcile these factors, social networks can continue to be a positive (or at least less controversial) form of social interaction and, by becoming less taboo, find a wider successful implementation in other aspects of daily life.

It is easy to measure how deeply social networks have permeated society (one man in Harlem used his Facebook status as an alibi and was acquitted.), but it is impossible to quantify the reasons for their success. Just as any phenomenon, social networks touched upon a need within society and provided an innovative way to satisfy that desire. Microwaves made heating up food effortless. Social networking allows people to communicate in an easy and efficient environment and, with the resources at its disposal, has the potential to become integrated even further into the framework of our lives. It might seem second nature to log on and check your Facebook notifications everyday, but just wait – once tamed and bred, social networking will become more like human nature.

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