Social Networking Sites

I used to have a MySpace account during the tail end of its peak popularity. I used it to interact with my friends, and I thought it was cool personalizing my profile with pictures, background images, and music. At the time, it was a fun thing to do online. When I first heard about Facebook, I was skeptical of it. I didn’t really think it would be that great. One of my friends finally convinced me to create a Facebook profile, and it very quickly outgrew MySpace. It had a little less creativity components, but it was much easier to communicate and interact with your friends. As time has gone on, Facebook has become even more popular, and not just with kids. Adults are now obsessed with it, as well. Facebook has become the most optimal way (for now) to keep in touch with friends or family you may not see often.

Twitter was another site I was skeptical of when it popped up. I thought it would be stupid, and had the common view that I didn’t need to know what people were eating for breakfast, etc. Finally, my friend and I decided that we would make one together (common theme of peer pressure, here…). At first, I used it sparingly to talk and joke around with friends, but now, I love it. It’s become one of my most visited sites, and I have completely changed the way I use it. I am a diehard New York Mets fan (unfortunate, I know), and I follow tons of baseball players, reporters, stat-keeping accounts, and fellow fans. I’ve even met new people via tweeting them about the Mets. Twitter for me is a huge sports hub. It is mostly Mets, but I do follow almost all things MLB and lots of other athletes and sports. I’ve followed more news sites as well. I go to Boston College, and during the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent events, the whole BC community was following the real-time updates from news sources like the Boston Globe on Twitter. I still keep up with my Facebook page, but I noticeably pay more attention to and use Twitter.

A fourth and newer site that has recently become popular is Instagram. I created an account this past year, and don’t use it too much yet. The extent of my using it consists of random and funny pictures as jokes every once and a while. I follow only a few of my friends and a couple athletes. It just recently added video capability, basically spelling an end to Vine. It is interesting seeing how Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all very popular social networking sites, but each has found a way to differentiate itself enough to be successful on its own.