Week 7 : Thing 17 : Getting to know you, getting to know all about you ...

Bebo, Myspace, Facebook, Yahoo! Groups, Hi5, Friendster and Orkut are all examples of large social networking sites, with the first three being the most popular (at least among English language speakers - apparently South Korea's CyWorld.com is huge).

I've just read an article that refers to a recent survey by computer experts rating the top 10 social networking sites according to "how easy they are to set up, their range of features, and most importantly the duel needs of both privacy and security". Interestingly, Bebo came out on top largely "due to encouraging responsible networking by enabling people to easily hide their details from others, and giving plenty of options to block unwanted people."

I think privacy and security are the big issues now; partly to protect oneself from unwanted pests/bullies/perverts, and partly because the episodes in your life that you are happy to share with friends may not make the best reading for potential employers down the track.

Personally I equate Bebo with teenagers, Facebook with 20 & 30-somethings, and Myspace with music groups.

I prefer more straight blog-like networks like Myspace because I think they are more personal. Facebook has a lot of cutsie features, (like sending people a virtual cake icon for their birthday) and is good for linking your site with your "friends" and their "friends" and so on down the line, but in many ways the most profound entries will always come from anonymous blogs.