Social Network Service

I'm sure that many people that use the internet have an account on at least one of the social network services. I have Mixi (Japanese), Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter!!!! Too many!!!! I guess MeetUp can be considered a SNS, too.

I use Mixi and Facebook on a regular basis. I stopped using Friendster a long time ago but I keep forgetting to get rid of it. I remembered I still have it because I got spam today. I keep MySpace just to be able to see things (I think you have to have an account to be able to see pictures, etc.) and copy and paste this blog there. It's just too many sites to update now.

I don't even know why I signed up for Twitter. It's so big now that it feels like I should have one, even though I don't use it. I guess I felt the pressure to conform. Does it work the same way? You have to have an account in order to see other people's stuff? Then maybe it's worth it. It's kind of like the status updates on MySpace and Facebook because it doesn't seem like most people post more than a few sentences.

SNS can be really tricky and you have to be very careful what you post. Mixi is probably the best one for privacy for me, because only people that can read Japanese are on it and most of my friends on Mixi don't know much about what goes on in my everyday life. I can write about things and not worry about exposing myself too much (cuz sometimes they wouldn't know what the heck I'm talking about).

Facebook is addicting because there are too many games!!! I guess MySpace does too but Facebook is a lot more user friendly. I'm sure I could use the time for something more useful like STUDYING but I make excuses by saying it's the best way for me to keep in touch with my friends...

It really has been great for me to find my friends all over the country and around the world. If it weren't for these SNS I wouldn't be able to stay in touch with them so easily. I don't know them well enough to call all the time but it's nice to see what they're up to. Most of my childhood friends are in Japan or NY and college friends are on the east coast. I even found a friend from high school who now lives in Sweden!!!

I also made a lot of friends through these SNS sites. I have a group of social worker friends that I met on Mixi. I also know a lot of pool players through these SNS sites, some of whom I've never met! Some people might say that's a bad idea but I consider it networking. I try to be smart about it of course.

Then there is this weird phenomenon where I know some of these people so well through Facebook but I hardly know them in person. Yet I feel so close to them because I know their business. After all, we are on the same mafia, you know (Mafia Wars...).

Back in the day when internet wasn't as popular, my friend and I used to fax notes to each other! It as so exciting because it was so much faster than sending letter in the mail. There's definitely good and bad aspects of all these technological advancements.