It’s my turn to talk to all you people! I promise to smell ok.

I plan on asking my classmates if and how they engage in Internetual Social Networking (ISN)(I invented the term).

If people don’t use Facebook, they have a reason, right? Think of someone you know, who’s close to you, who doesn’t have a Facebook profile, and who you wish you could talk to on Facebook, cause you don’t live close together. Haven’t you suggested this person join Facebook? Can’t you imagine that others have, too? I hasten to point out that non-Facebookers are probably sick and tired of hearing the suggestion. Facebookers tend to want those without it to conform, and <800 million people use Facebook.

This is how their word is spread–word of mouth. It could be argued that Facebook has transcended advertising, because all their users do it for them.

From there I’ll segue into the MySpace-Facebook relationship, how the two have striven to become similar yet separate over the years, and compare that to the similar behavior of political parties during election season.

Why do we use Facebook? What do we get out of it? What does it offer that we (late 20-somethings) missed out on as kids, before it was invented? People want to be connected, to talk, to build bridges, to stay in the loop, to not be outcast. Remember high school? People want to fit in, and online social networking makes it easier.

One could argue that social networking makes us less social, because we’re sitting in front of computers, not going out and meeting people. I would chance to argue that Facebook and MySpace have made it easier to make friends, and not just those labeled as such online.

With Facebook and many other ISN sites, we may casually and privately send messages, with profile pic attached, to total or partial strangers. If they choose to respond, we get to know them better. Then, if we meet this person in real life, we at least know something about each other, giving us something to talk about, if we choose, and aren’t total inverts.

All this without of the awkwardness of meeting in real life. I do agree with the ‘ISN-is-antisocial’ argument in this case–that awkwardness is unavoidable, and we must be adept at navigating it. It’s good for people to be people persons, in other words. Solely electronic communication is insufficient training for this.

The more people we get to know, the better we know our own circle of friends, and the more our own networks grow. All of this gives us a sense of overall connection, which we desire intrinsically as people.

GRAND FINALE

Internetual Social Networking is big. Prevalent. It’s not going away, and it’s not going to stay the same shape. We must adapt, as social networking technology adapts to us. Did any of us quit FB when it changed its format all those times? How many people complained about it at the time, without deleting their profile? Facebook rules our lives, and we don’t even know it.

<div style=”width:425px” id=”__ss_11343195″> <strong style=”display:block;margin:12px 0 4px”><a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/GlennDoom/internetual-social-networking” title=”Internetual Social Networking” target=”_blank”>Internetual Social Networking</a></strong> <div style=”padding:5px 0 12px”> View more <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/” target=”_blank”>presentations</a> from <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/GlennDoom” target=”_blank”>GlennDoom</a> </div> </div>