Social Networking Sites

I am going to be comparing Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Linked In as social networking sites. Since I have used all of these sites in the past or present I already have a good impression of how they work. Facebook immediately comes off as very personal, since most users have there full names, cities, phone numbers, and other various information you could find of someone. If you are looking for someone specific, Facebook is most likely the place to go. Since I have all of my friends and most of my family on there, it is definitely what I check most in order to keep in touch with alot of people. The fact that Facebook allows you to basically make a photo album of your whole life is definitely a reason that so many people use it.

Twitter on the other hand is a lot more impersonal in my opinion. I use Twitter as a way to keep up with my favorite artists, celebrities, sports teams, and close friends. The interface is confusing at times however it is very efficient, even more then Facebook at spreading news. I think Facebook is more suitable for keeping in contact with a large amount of people that you won't talk to everyday, while Twitter will help keep you updated with a smaller group of people that you may not even personally know. I definitely think Twitter is the least like all of these sites in that it is not trying to  make a profile of information about you.

Next is Myspace, which almost seems ancient at this point. Having not logged into Myspace in many years I was greeted with nostalgia but quickly realized the reason many people left it. It is very cluttered, but mostly similar to Facebook in most senses. However Myspace always had a more teen user base in my opinion. Myspace is very messy at this point, many peoples pages are different colors with animated gifs and songs blaring each time you open a new page. It is also less personal since a lot of people never used there real name, unlike Facebook.

Lastly is Linked In which I admittedly have spent the least time on. Linked In is a great tool for networking, and keeping up with contacts that you may not speak to otherwise. Also I noticed there are many job postings on the site now, which is definitely a plus. Linked In is definitely the most important social networking site in the business world, and you should try your hardest to keep your profile "clean" there.

Overall all of these sites serve a different purpose but most of them accomplish the same things. My impression of all of these sites is that they are or were useful in at least one aspect as they continue to grow.