Human beings are social creatures that need to have some sort of social interaction to stay healthy. For example in the popular game called “The Sims”, characters have a social meter that must be kept in good standing which is represented by a green line. The social meter is kept high by interacting with other Sims over the telephone, in person, or chatting over the internet. If a Sims social meter drops too low and turns red, a character called “The Social Bunny” appears to restore the Sims mental health. This game has been created to mimic human life and the fact that it has a social meter in correlation with a hunger, hygiene, energy, fun, and bladder meter shows the importance people place on socializing. So it’s no surprise that there are networking sites for all types of interests and people from around the world.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any creditable sources as to how many networking sites exist, but I did learn that there are approximately over 200 active social networking sites available. There are also numerous categories in which these sites fall into such as general, books, online games, music, green living, art, motherhood, travel, life experiences, and politics just to name a few. I have also realized that the top ranked networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, and Hi5 are all under the category of general. The fact that all of these top ranked sites are under the same category may have some correlation to their popularity. In conclusion, I believe that as a person’s life becomes more hectic with work and family, people tend to seek out different ways to get personal advice and make new friends. As a result people turn to social networking sites to meet other men and woman with similar experiences or interests.
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3 comments:
Stephanie, I like your comparison of the “The Sims” video game to a persons need for interaction in order stay sane. I’ve never played that video game before but let’s face it, people need to communicate with one another to either get something off of their chest, ask for advice, or for any other type of situation. Keeping secrets or thoughts hidden isn’t good for your health. If it wasn’t for people wanting to socialize and communicate, there wouldn’t be any point in having social networking websites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. I also agree that life gets pretty hectic so it’s hard to find the time to physically meet up with a family member or friend. That’s why it’s more convenient to keep in contact with them through a social networking website. I believe that the popularity of social networking websites is only going to increase with time because it makes communicating with others and life much easier on a person. In reality, people appreciate when things are made easier for them.
I think actually when a person's life becomes more hectic, they just stay away from the social media sites with the exception of YouTube (I count it as a social media site). When it comes to networking, they do it the old-fashion way then; go to networking events, parties, etc.
With the rise in popularity and accessibility of the internet, the social interaction that humans innately crave has become satiated by the availability of innumerable social media sites. Although the better known sites fall under the category of “general” in which the participants do not necessarily converse with one another about a specific topic, the number of special interest social media websites has grown substantially. Sites are created regularly to become platforms for enthusiasts of various subjects of interest to discuss their particular hobbies with one another. Sites focusing on particular hobbies such as cars, animals, sports, clothing etc., fill both the need for social interaction while allowing participants to be able to talk to people that share similar interests and have expertise on the topic on which the site focuses.
There exists a real opportunity for a social media site in every social niche. These niches are often what provide entrepreneurs the opening to establish their own successful venture.
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