& Then There Was Facebook..

Not long after the creation of Myspace, Mark Zuckerberg & his college roommates created Facebook.  At first the site was limited to Harvard students, then was available to students in the Boston area.  It was later offered to all college students, then high school students, and finally to anyone age 13 and over.  Like Myspace, Facebook offered users a place of their own on the internet.  The only difference is that Facebook was much simpler, with the same layout used for all users and no profile songs.  At first, Facebook lagged behind Myspace, but by 2009, it was the most used social networking site, replacing its top competitor.  In October 2010, there were over 135 million users, and it is estimated that 41.9% of Americans have a Facebook [Source] .  From personal experience, I loved Facebook so much more than Myspace, and was an avid user throughout my freshman and sophomore years of college.  It allowed me to keep up with lost friends and classmates.  However, Facebook lost it's appeal once my parents decided to hop on the bandwagon.  The fact that Facebook was so simple proved to be both a gift and a curse to much of the younger population of its users.  As more and more "older" people joined Facebook, more people 25 and under began searching for a new social network.  This leads to the creation of Twitter, the social network that is ruling the world at this very moment.

But before we go into that, it must be mentioned that Facebook made such an impact on the world that there was a movie made about it's creation and success. As we speak, the movie is winning Oscars, proving that people are fascinated with the development of social networks.  Here is a preview from the award-winning film:

Where It All Began...

Of course, the story of social networking has to start somewhere.  In 2003, a man by the name of Tom Anderson created a social network, and named it Myspace.  I'm sure if you are under the age of 25-30, you, at some point, had an account with Myspace.  Myspace was light the match that started the social networking fire. This site allowed you to interact with people, whether you knew them or not, via the internet.  You no longer had to call them up to talk, you could simply type out a message and send to the desired user.  Also, Myspace was different in that you had your own little space of the internet that you could call your own.  You were able to customize it with different backgrounds, your favorite songs, and your favorite bathroom mirror picture.  Myspace took the world by storm, especially the younger part of the world.  There were millions of users, with the 100 millionth user joining in August of 2006.  By late 2007, Myspace was deemed as the leading social networking site.  However, many technical glitches & the creation of an even bigger social networking monster, Facebook, led to the demise of this network.  If you had an account on Myspace, you may remember how slowly your computer moved while visiting the site.  Problems like this drove many away from the site, but even today, there are still millions of users around the world, hoping to socialize with friends, old and new. Although, Myspace is viewed by many as a thing of the past, it is still very important to mention in the history of social networking, as it is the site that started it all.

Here is a clip of Tom Anderson speaking on his newfound success about 3 years ago:

Stay tuned for the story of Facebook, the social network that really changed everything...

What's the Point?

I have been given an assignment in one of my courses.  That assignment is to explain, in a blog, how someone or something is changing the world through technology.  Upon receiving this assignment, the most reasonable & logical topic to do was 'social networking'.  Social networking is something fairly new, however, everybody is familiar with it and the way that it works.  I feel as though every reader will be able to relate to this topic as everyone has an account in a social network, whether it be myspace, facebook, twitter, or even skype and oovoo.  Over the next two months, you will see how social networking has totally changed the world.  I will start by explaining the 'history', so to speak, starting with myspace & ending with the network that is ruling the world as we speak -- also known as Twitter.  Then I will cover various aspects of our lives, & explain how social networking has changed them, whether it be for the better or the worst.