I think it was around this time four years ago when I got hip to what a social network was. I was stepping out of the neighborhood and was told that in the real world all the cool people had a Facebook. So I signed up. Went through ups and downs with it but for the most part it was a cool way to find people, look at Tmobile Sidekick pictures of girls after every party they go to, and post my whole life for the world to see.

Over time, I abused the site. Went through my ignorant phase of posting up pics of my “money stacks” or every time I got a “fresh outfit”. Then I got a bit more mature and used it as a tool to spread positive messages and psycho-analyze different personalities. Now it’s a place where I breeze through from time to time to see what old college buddies are up to as well as post status updates on my whereabouts (for those who might care).

Fast forward a year or so I got hip to Myspace. It was cooler than Facebook. The G-Rated pictures offered by Facebook were traded in for semi-nude photo offerings from McDonalds worker/aspiring models, “gangstas” took pics with their guns while uploading from the trap, I mean just an all out cesspool of corruption that I loved. You couldn’t get me off the site. Then I discovered celebs on there and stalked a few to no avail. Then I became a celebrity to a certain extent and began to get stalked. I quickly retreated and over the years my logins were few and far between. Prior to deleting both my Myspaces this past week I was averaging one quick login per month. The spam, the “check out my music”, the fact that I’m not 16 aNd downt Tiipe lyKE diz; it was time to move on.

Now Twitter. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, and @IamDiddy are just a few of the celebs to “use” this new social networking tool. They hardly socialize or network, they just use it to build on to their mountains of cash and who can blame them? If Timmy from Idaho really thinks the leader of America, Ms.Winfrey has time to respond to his tweets then that’s poor Timmy’s fault. We can’t blame Oprah for capitalizing. Just one “Hey guys, watch the show today” makes us all smile and believe she cares again.

As for us folk in lesser tax brackets, Twitter serves as a great way to receive/share news in real time. My non-Twitter friends are just now finding out about the Rihanna and Cassie pics. Unlike the other sites, I can actually say I’ve met  new cool people through Twitter. It was structured perfectly. Just one picture, one tiny bio and your dialog. That’s all people have to make an impression. It’s the closest you can get to really getting to know what a person is like through a screen. The way Twitter has worked for me is I have convos with people I follow and through those convos more people find me. Maybe they see me and @_____ talking about the Lakers and they say “oh this Phella guy likes the Lakers, let me follow him”. That’s also how I discovered new people to follow.

Like all good things though, it can’t last forever. Twitter decided yesterday to only allow you to see convos between people you already follow. Instantly my timeline became silent. Most of the people I follow don’t know each other and thanks to this new rule they probably never will. My follower count won’t grow, I won’t know who to follow and it just becomes Facebook part 2. Something that once was great is now average at best. My only reason for not pressing delete is the fact that in 5 mins when I finish this post I can post it on Twitter and 234 people will be able to see it and read instantly. It’s the only site to my knowledge that offers that.

I’ve had a theory for a while now that the Internet and social networking sites are the downfall of this generation. I feel people do things just so they can throw it in their picture section or boast about it in their status updates. The socially awkward and insecure amongst us feel lame to “post via web” all the time so they use their phones to give the impression they’re are living the life but still found time to ask 200 strangers “how’s it going?”. Some stalk celebs. Others create a celebrity image and lure gullible people into stalking them. The addicts over post and take a life or death approach to these sites. At times it just feels unhealthy but still we come back for more.

My question is what does everyone out there feel? Is social networking the devil? Does it really help business or is it just a way to feel popular? Is it necessary to survive in today’s world? What’s your favorite social networking memory and your worst one? Let’s discuss.