I have been hinting at the glory that is Facebook for some time now, and I finally get to talk about it! I joined facebook the summer before I started college - back then (in the good ol' days) it was only college students (or alumni, or employees) who were allowed on. Of course, there were ways of getting on without actually being a college student (i.e. using your professor dad's e-mail), but let's face it, that was cheating. Within a year, high schoolers were allowed to get a facebook, and soon after, it opened up to everyone. Now, I do have a lot of facebook friends who are not college students, so I kind of embraced the inclusion, but there are a lot of problems that come up when you let kids under 18 on a site like this, so it can get a bad rep because of it. I think high schoolers belong on MySpace, but that's just me (I also have -or have had- my fair share of high school friends).
Anyway, facebook. This is generally my first stop when I hop on the internet and a default for whenever I am bored. It really is a one-stop-shop. You can e-mail, post pictures (and see your friends'), get event notices, post links to your favorite sites or news articles, and of course, facebook stalk! Okay, I know what you're thinking, "Don't be creepy or anything, Katy." First, I will refer you to it's urbandictionary definition for a general understanding of the term. Now, facebook stalking is not really anything creepy, after all, it is just looking at the information that a person has chosen to post about themselves for others to see. Also, it sometimes takes talent to facebook stalk - you have to know how to find a person. You can make your profile private, so that only your friends can actually see it, or you can make it so that it doesn't show up when someone outside of your network searches for you (or you can be invisible to everyone but your friends, meaning that in order to gain friends, you must friend them). Facebook stalking is not analogous to obsessively following someone around in the real world (you know, the kind that leads to restraining orders). Like I said, you cannot find out anymore information about someone than he or she wants you to find. Also, facebook has it's own twitter-like application in the form of updates. Now, I think twitter itself is stupid, since it is a site dedicated to up-to-the-minute details about your life, but I think it works on facebook. You don't have to have a status update, and I just don't condemn it as much.
On to MySpace. I'm not gonna lie, I think myspace is lame. I have a profile (I got it before I had a facebook), but I don't really update it or check it ever. Every once in a while, I will get a friend request or message, but myspace has a lot more spam-like stuff on it. True, it is good for musicians - you can be friends with your favorite singer or band, and new musicians can try to recruit fans by suggesting that fans of a similar band listen to them (which means that if you like Jason Mraz, you get a lot of e-mails from Jason-Mraz-wannabes). Oh yea, and there are porn stars on there as well who will try to be your friend (ew). And, yes, it is generally easier to access a person's profile and information - if you can find them. Myspace's search kinda sucks. You can't actually refine/filter your search, even though it gives you the option, it just freaks out and says it can't find anyone with those parameters.
Facebook and myspace are not the only social networking sites out there, though. Search for a networking site based on your hobby or profession. I love Ravelry - a knit/crochet/fiber networking site (you have to ask to be invited in order to get on, so don't expect to explore the site unless you actually get on it - also, they don't let you upload photos directly from your computer, which is pretty much the only reason I have a flickr). LibraryThing could be considered a social networking site, too. Check out this list of social networking sites from my beloved Wikipedia.
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