Your Real Friends Are Your Online Friends
Your "Real" Friends are Your Online Friends (or so Says Gen Y) and so reports Sarah Perez on ReadWriteWeb. It's a subject that has long been mocked by those who don't use social networks. "You have 1,567 friends on Facebook? Really? Do you actually 'know' any of them?"
Many people find it easier to talk to online friends than the live face-to-face ones. I now that I am more in touch about the lives of my Facebook friends than with those who aren't online. I actually do know many of my online friends from live encounters. But that colleague that I see every few months at a meeting or conference is now part of my almost daily online updates.
I actually have "four degrees of separation" categories set up in Facebook for friends. Number one are those people who I see pretty regularly and in the fourth are people I have never met and probably never will meet. When I am overwhelmed by status updates I hit the 1 or 2 categories only. I also have categories for colleagues at the college, friends from high school and college, family, and former students. It's not as complicated as it sounds. When I add a friend, I just check a box for a group.
According to a recent UK MySpace study of over 16,000 social network users, they feel more comfortable sharing and communicating with friends online than they do when logged out of cyberspace. This particular study asked social networking users between the ages of 14 and 21 ("Gen Y") questions about their interactions on social networks and in their real life, too.
They also felt that online friends knew more about their day-to-day lives than offline friends. That is something I would agree with. Of course, I'm not sure how important it is that you know what I am currently reading or that I'm headed for the Jersey shore for the weekend or that my son is moving to Delaware, but it is often the same information I might share if we spoke on the phone or met for coffee.
Perhaps more significantly, 72% of those in the survey said they felt "left out" and didn't think they fit into any particular group offline. 82% said they moved between four or more different groups of friends in an effort to find acceptance. Joining, leaving and finding new groups is far easier online.
Is this just youth? Will these feelings and behaviors carry over into their adult lives and they will be even more awkward and shy in the real world as they age?
If you teach (or have teenagers in your household), you will have observed that they will be texting and updating their status updates while they are ignoring their friends that are actually with them. I'm not real happy with someone sitting across from me texting and reading mail while we are having dinner. "Turn off the phone," is a request met with disbelief. They never turn it off - just recharge.
Balancing that with the benefit of having "friends" (maybe we need a new word like "e-friends") who know them and they feel really care about their status seems valid.
Many people find it easier to talk to online friends than the live face-to-face ones. I now that I am more in touch about the lives of my Facebook friends than with those who aren't online. I actually do know many of my online friends from live encounters. But that colleague that I see every few months at a meeting or conference is now part of my almost daily online updates.
50 new friends? This is so much better than high school.
According to a recent UK MySpace study of over 16,000 social network users, they feel more comfortable sharing and communicating with friends online than they do when logged out of cyberspace. This particular study asked social networking users between the ages of 14 and 21 ("Gen Y") questions about their interactions on social networks and in their real life, too.
They also felt that online friends knew more about their day-to-day lives than offline friends. That is something I would agree with. Of course, I'm not sure how important it is that you know what I am currently reading or that I'm headed for the Jersey shore for the weekend or that my son is moving to Delaware, but it is often the same information I might share if we spoke on the phone or met for coffee.
Perhaps more significantly, 72% of those in the survey said they felt "left out" and didn't think they fit into any particular group offline. 82% said they moved between four or more different groups of friends in an effort to find acceptance. Joining, leaving and finding new groups is far easier online.
Is this just youth? Will these feelings and behaviors carry over into their adult lives and they will be even more awkward and shy in the real world as they age?
If you teach (or have teenagers in your household), you will have observed that they will be texting and updating their status updates while they are ignoring their friends that are actually with them. I'm not real happy with someone sitting across from me texting and reading mail while we are having dinner. "Turn off the phone," is a request met with disbelief. They never turn it off - just recharge.
Balancing that with the benefit of having "friends" (maybe we need a new word like "e-friends") who know them and they feel really care about their status seems valid.
Comments
No comments