Checking out some social networking sites.

Good evening readers!
Over the weekend, I was checking out some social networking sites and comparing them to each other. Social networking sites are websites that allow users to create a profile, upload pictures, chat, friend and meet other users as well as create blogs and notes. Some of the big names in social networking would be Myspace, facebook, twitter, friendster and youtube. Social networking sites rake in huge amounts of users every day seeing as how individuals have a psychological desire to fill their social needs. These sites allow all individuals to participate in social interaction without leaving the comfort and security of their homes. There are some however that argue the fact that social networking actually hinders a persons social life as it confines them to a computer rather than having the individual go outside and participate in real life gatherings and events.
I became a facebook user roughly 2 years ago before its boom, during the era the website was only open to college students. This has given me a chance to see the website grow rapidly as time progressed. The site eventually became open to all users and has since added hundreds of different applications such as music, tests, dating, and games in an effort to reach and cater to a large and diverse user population. During this transition, facebook lost sight of its ultimate goal of creating a private social site catered towards college students only. Facebook is no longer private as millions of profiles are open for the public to see as well as a recent trend of curious employers. Facebook continues to grow and is now the number one social networking site with 180 million users and over a billion hits a month (Data as of Jan 09).
Myspace, a place for friends, as its slogan says is a different breed of social networking as its competitor, facebook. Myspace has targeted the teenage, highschool population and gives users the option of using their own html abilities to create a background, put music and different images up. Myspace is often looked down upon when compared to facebook as it is seen as having a largely adolescent and immature user population. Myspace has also taken a bold move by now offering the ability to search for music on their site as well as music videos and the ability to look up artists. A few friends told me the major difference between facebook and myspace is the ease of picking up one night stand partners on myspace.
Friendster can be considered the mini-facebook as it had a similar user interface and profile layout. Friendster however, has a ton less users than the giant, facebook and also tends to encourage the meeting and "friend-ing" of random strangers more than other social networking sites.
The last social networking site I have chosen to examine is my particular favorite and gives me the most satisfaction out of any - Youtube. Now I know what your thinking, "Youtube is not a social networking site!", but hear me out first. Youtube has all the elements of a social networking site. You are allowed to create your own profile, friend, comment, and message other users, as well as join groups and of course - view and upload millions of videos. You can find almost any video on youtube from music videos, your favorite t.v. shows that you missed, stunts, pranks, sporting events, speeches, natural disasters and almost anything your heart desires (Except porn, youtube takes a strong stand against pornography).
Well that's all I have to say, as always comment/email me.