Social Networking

How much time do people spend on social networking site? Has it become their main form of interaction with people or does it just nuture their relationships? Prior to taking this unit I was quite alarmed when I realised just how much time people seem to spend on SNS.

My concern is of course skewed as I do not use my mobile phone to send updates to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other site. This might just be because I don't have Apps to make it easy, or because when something does happen (however major or minor) my first thought isn't OMG I have to share this with someone - and quickly!

Take for example last week. I am 95% sure I saw Michael Keating (you know Batman and BeatleJuice) on the street. I know this seems unlikely as I live in Melbourne and one first thought is what is he doing here? Did I not share this because I would feel silly (obviously not otherwise I wouldn't have put it here) or because sharing a post/tweet/status that said "OMG I think I just saw Michael Keating on the cnr of King & Williams st Melb" would not be as meaningful or have the same impact if I had to get back to my laptop at work to share this?

Another one of my gripes with SNS is not only the pressure one feels about accepting (or most often the wish to be able to ignore/reject) friend type requests (of people you know of course). Whether its colleagues wanting to join your LinkedIn network or a friend of a friend (or their boyfriend) making a facebook friend request say no is hard because you see these people in real life. The implications of accepting these 'lose' friendship ties becomes messy if for example your friend breaks up with the boyfriend or if you want to pursue other opportunities through LinkedIn and colleagues or managers have access to that kind of activity.

Funnily enough, when we go back to the carton from our lecture, nobody knows your a dog on the internet, it reminds me how easy it is to forget at times that certain behaviours online can't be hidden from certain people in a network for just that period of time, as you might do in real life. As much as SNS can help as engage more with our friends online it can also put a strain on them if we're not mindful of our actions and how visible they are all the time.