Has Social Networking Improved Your Real World Social Life?

MySpace. FaceBook. Instant Messaging. Texting. Fan sites. Everywhere you go, there is some sort of social networking going on and it's actually acceptable.

Social Networking, in the context of the internet, happens when you join chat rooms, bulletin boards, or websites with the purpose of connecting with other people for various reasons. Maybe you're a Star Wars fan and joined MySpace to meet other Star Wars fans. Or you really like tropical plants and decided to join a chat room that talks about them. Or, like many others, the internet is your way of meeting people who could be potential dates. Either way, social networking is a staple of our techno-culture.

But it wasn't always like that and it wasn't always so acceptable. Back in the early 90's, when I went to college, there weren't too many social networks and the only people you saw on the computers outside of class were either typing a paper or they were "geeks". I walked into a lab one day and there were about 10 people typing furiously and laughing at a monochrome screen. I asked what was going on and they said they were talking to girls in Australia.

This, of course, caught my interest. I joined what was called the Bulletin Board. Pretty soon I was one of them, posting messages in forums and sending x messages (they were the earliest form of instant messaging) to names listed on the board. Everyone's name had a small description or quote attached to it. I traded posts in rooms devoted to race relations, college humor, quotes, Prince music, you name it. If it interested me, I had something to say.