Curiosity, Nosiness, or Loneliness? Thoughts on Social Networks

Within the last few hours, I have a) changed my Facebook status, b) changed my Facebook picture, c) tweeted via web and phone, d) all of the above. (If you don’t know what tweeting is, stay tuned for the next post, because it deserves a post on its own.) Mind you, I was diligently studying for GMATs, which turned into Facebook surfing to then chatting to OMG-it’s-4:00 am! (Note: Vietnamese coffee may have had an influence)

A lot of questions have been brewing in my mind about social networks lately and why they thrive. Why are people so addicted? Is it human nature that causes us to be curious about what exists beyond our immediate environment? Are we just plain nosy and want the gossip without looking bad? Or is it the mere back-and-forth commenting/poking/replying that is gratifying to the brain? This last one stems from an article I read about loneliness affecting the brain. It states:

“Given their feelings of social isolation, lonely individuals may be left to find relative comfort in nonsocial rewards,” said John Cacioppo, the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Professor in Psychology at the University.”

You may say all of the above, which is probably true. I’m not really here to tell you the technical bit to it. It’s just fascinating how interaction between people and the Internet has progressed.

Before online social networks like Facebook and MySpace, can you even remember what we turned to? AIM, IRC, ICQ, Yahoo! chatrooms, Xanga, etc. I can still remember the first social network I ever joined back in 1996 — AsianAvenue. You could basically upload a picture and write some bio about yourself, search for others, and chat. There were a couple other niche sites catering to the different races (i.e., BlackPlanet, MiGente), but I’m surprised how long it took until MySpace won over the masses by storm (I am proud to say I do not own a MySpace account).

Then enter Facebook, who I guess everyone and, literally, their mom is on (thank goodness mine isn’t!). Thoughts on Facebook: first and foremost, it’s a hell of a lot of information that we willingly volunteer (not going to get into the whole Terms of Service stuff). A friend of mine, who joined just a few months ago, felt extremely overwhelmed and hated the interface. And no, he’s not a noob. It’s just hard for us to empathize with a Facebook virgin as we have stuck around for the numerous iterations of interface changes. “Duh, of course we know where to find a person’s hobbies and how to stalk conversations between people!” We just eat this sh*t right up! It boggles my mind why we spend countless hours absorbed in an application that really does not produce much of anything, except maybe self-validation. Yes, we do gain a network from it, but does it really take updating your status/picture every few hours to maintain said network? It is seriously an addiction. I admit, I’m no less of a victim than the next (well, I’m not that extreme); I’m just getting a little jaded by the whole movement.

Social networks are indeed powerful in that you now have the attention of millions of people, but this is all still very isolated when you consider each individual account “moving” at different rates. It’s when masses start to form and actions are made that makes them valuable, which we’ve already seen through Obama’s campaign for change (whose site is called “my B.O.” — giggle, giggle) and young “socially responsible” sites, like Everywun.com. What will social networks evolve into? Will we all eventually unite under one network or perhaps an individual will monopolize everything?

I know I’ve already started to shift my attention from Facebook to Twitter, as many others have (reasons will be detailed in the following post). I am beginning to see the impact that Twitter has on developing a strong, united community, however I don’t see social networks ending here. Once there is a large enough audience buying into a certain topic, change will occur. It’s inevitable. Users will constantly seek more, whether it is for self-validation, money, entertainment, convenience/a simpler life, or maybe even intrinsic reasons. If you have the winning big idea that satisfies all these, I suggest you get crackin’ on it!