So last night I see this status message on Facebook by a friend saying "Cliff Lee is returning to the Rangers! WS here we come!" Well after finding out my friend got this info from Twitter (although I'm not sure what Twitter source he was using) I went looking for it. I didn't find anything saying he was returning to the Rangers but because the person who had that status message is such a huge Rangers fan I assumed he was telling the truth. Well around 4 hours later we hear on ESPN that Cliff Lee is going back to the Phillies and then of course they are talking about it on Mike and Mike as well as ESPN First Take. So Cliff Lee is going to the Phillies and not the Rangers...it shocked the hell out of me because I didn't think the Phillies were even in the running for him. But after this happened it got me to thinking: "How trustworthy is the news you read on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace?"
I think Twitter is the most untrustworthy social networking site to use if you're looking for up to date news on your favorite people. Not only that but how confident are we in knowing that it's the actual celebrity, sports star, politician, or news program that is doing the tweeting? This is the biggest reason why I won't join Twitter or even pay any attention to it because I know a lot of these people pay someone to update their Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace accounts for them. And a lot of the time the people updating these sites are inputting news that may not even have to do with the actual person. Most of the stuff posted on Twitter is just random garbage quotes that mean absolutely nothing to the person who owns the Twitter account. It also bugs the crap out of me when I'm watching a program and they quote statements that celebrities and the like post to Twitter knowing good and well that it's usually a publicist that is making these statements not the actual person. However these broadcasters take everything that is said on Twitter as fact and to me that makes them pretty naive if they believe everything they read on that site.
I'm pretty sure Classmates.com is the first social networking site of it's kind that was created and it started back in 1995. However we're not going to talk about Classmates.com because it was pretty much forgotten about once Myspace and Facebook came around. There are a ton of social networking sites to use out there including dating sites and blog sites but for the sake of this post we'll stick with the big 3 of Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook. The rest of the sites are pretty unimportant and insignificant compared to these 3 so there is no use in really talking about them. I will say this though, they each add something new to the whole "social networking" craze that's been booming for the past 6 to 7 years but none of them have done it quite like the "big 3" have.
Myspace was founded back in 2003 but I did not get sucked into it until 2004 but even then it was still in it's infancy. It didn't hit it's peak in popularity until 2006 when it was recognized as the most popular social networking site on the internet. Back then you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing something about Myspace. Myspace used to be great but after they started catering more towards the music industry, movie industry, and celebrities it dropped off tremendously. A few years ago pretty much everyone used Myspace. At one point there were more than 300,000,000 profiles on it and I'm sure there are even more now. The thing that made Myspace so great was how easy it was to customize it. The different layouts you could use made it worth having a profile on. I would spend hours a day sometimes just customizing it and making it look better than everyone else. The blog feature built in was pretty nice too which is one reason why I kept going back to Myspace. But it started to get complicated and when all the adults started switching to Facebook I refused to give in. I had been using Myspace pretty much since the beginning and I wasn't ready to put as much time and effort into Facebook as I did Myspace. However eventually I had to open a Facebook account because everyone stopped using Myspace and well, that site just got lame and now mostly teenagers use it.
Now there is Facebook which in my opinion took all the positive features (minus the customizing of the profile) from Myspace and just added to it and made it a lot more simple to use. I'm so glad they don't have a "top friends" option because that always made the rest of your friends jealous or feel unimportant. Worst feature ever if you ask me so thank God for it not being on Facebook. I also love Facebook because ever since I started using it I've gotten back into contact with people I hadn't spoken to in 10 or more years. I love the "like" feature as well. Almost EVERY website you go to now is connected to Facebook in some way so you can "like" pretty much anything from anywhere and it saves it to your Facebook. The only drawback to Facebook from my point of view is all the dang applications and games you can add to it. Not to mention all the "requests" and "invites" you get from people to play these games. It doesn't bother me all that much because I'm a gamer but I refuse to let myself get sucked into any Facebook games because they can be so time consuming and addicting that you forget about everything else. A lot of the games require you to have friends help you do things on them. Castle Age was like that and I had to add almost 100 extra people that played that game to my Facebook so they could help me advance in the game. I quit playing all Facebook games after that because I just don't like having people on my friends list if I don't actually know them or really talk to them. Granted forcing you to team up with people in order to advance in games is a great way to make new friends I'd just rather skip all of that and only add people I actually know in real life.
Alright, and now to the thing that may rub people the wrong way, but don't get upset because I'm guilty of doing this exact same thing. My question is, "when did everyone all of a sudden start feeling like their life was so important that they felt the need to tell everyone everything they are doing at the moment or will be doing in the future?" We've got people tweeting and updating their status messages on Facebook and Myspace every hour now days (I'm guilty of updating my status at least a few times a day). Yes it makes for great social interaction and gives you an insight into the lives of the people you either friend or follow on Twitter but at the same time it can be hella annoying. I'm not griping or bitching by any means because like I said, I'm guilty of doing this myself. The biggest issue I have with this is that most of the time the updates are pointless (mine included). Seriously, does anyone REALLY care that one of your plants died yesterday? Or that you were up until 3 in the morning doing homework or studying for a test? Is there really a need to update your status message to "Goodnight Facebook, hope everyone has sweet dreams!". I understand that doing these things may make you feel important because you know people are reading it but the stuff we are actually saying is pretty unimportant to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I don't plan on changing my Facebook habits just because of what I've said in this post. And I'm not bashing anyone for doing these things because I do them too. I just don't understand why we all believe that even the most tedious things are worth posting as our status on any of these sites that's all.
All in all I think the evolution of social networking has been a great thing for the world. The benefits of using these sites far outweigh the negative aspects simply because they allow us to stay in contact with family and friends we may not otherwise socialize with had it not been for these sites. So regardless of all the garbage that is posted to Twitter, the overload of music and corporate profiles on Myspace, and the thousands of games and gifts you get sent on Facebook....I would have to say I enjoy this whole social networking thing. I've been swept away in the craze just like everyone else however I refuse to use Twitter. I've cut back the amount of time I'm on Myspace to maybe once a week. I am guilty of checking and updating my Facebook more than a few times a day though and I do not see that slowing down any time soon.
I think I've managed to use the words Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook more than any other person ever has before. *sigh*
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