I remember the time I joined a social networking site; Orkut, approximately 3 years back. I am still in the process of figuring out why. I am definitely not someone who does not keep in touch and who depends heavily on the internet to help me stay connected with loved ones. I am more of a conversationalist. Maybe this craziness around me, friends joining social networking sites and talking animatedly about scrapping, writing, testimonials, joining communities. I guess, maybe, I got caught in all that hype.
At first it never made any sense, the people there in my friends list were not exactly those I have difficulty keeping in touch with, they were either family or school friends whom I met everyday. Then why this fad?? I never figured that out either. What I did eventually figure out was how I can make this madness useful for me. I had transferred from Madurai in 2000 and I gradually lost touch with all the good friends there. So one fine day! I logged into Orkut, with the vague hope that I can find them. I searched for my school's community, and was surprised to see there was one with about 70 members. I joined and searched for those I remembered and voila! I found around 5 - 7 friends listed in that community. Excitedly I sent them friend requests and eagerly waited for the response. A deep sense of fear also creeped in at the same time.. what if they don't remember me?? I would be some freak who had gone around adding friends on Orkut. Again! Caught by suprise, everyone not only remembered me, but also, spoke to me as though I had just vanished for couple of minutes. It seemed as though my world was going in rewind.
Some say all these social networking sites are just an excuse for being busy and an easy way of keeping in touch with friends. For me, it was more for discovering long lost friends and connecting with them.
Well I gotta admit, Orkut did become boring, especially because of lack of security and creeps sending friend requests. I had the phone numbers of all the friends I had re-connected with, I could just text message them or give them a call and so once again, Orkut had become of no use to me :). That's when a friend from college wanted me to join Facebook. She spoke animatedly about Graffitis, Fun Games etc etc and so I joined Facebook. I used Facebook for fun stuff like throwing food at friends, fighting with vampires and blah blah. Right when that got boring, I found a reason to still be a member of Facebook. It's simple, to stay in touch with my faithful college friends. Now that college is over, we are all dispersed and it is difficult to make international calls frequently.
My friends started a thread (almost like a group discussion) on Facebook and we stay connected through it. It just seems so much easier. The only difference is instead of talking we have to type out what we have to say (synonymous to passing notes in class ;) ) and instead of the person we have a computer/laptop in front of us.
Although this is so much easier, I admit there is nothing like picking up an old letter from a friend and reading it. It truly does bring in this nostalgic feeling that can never be replaced by any of the social networking sites. Now having said that, I have to admit that I am just too lazy to pick up a pen and paper and write a letter, mailing just seems to save time & energy.
There you go, yours truly, admitting to that fact maybe these social networking sites are just a fad, but for people who do genuinely find it as an easier way to keep in touch with this ever-growing world, it’s a blessing in disguise.
If you don’t agree, well, imagine this, you are moving to another city, another state to be specific and you have to live with a budget, no parents to give you money as and when you require it, can you honestly make national and international calls with that? Taking a reality check, doesn’t this seem as a simpler way to stay connected?
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