Social Networking Sites

Facebook has been in the news recently, about the Scrabulous application which is suppose to be similar to Scrabble and some lawsuit against the developers of the game {it's a good game if you ask me, love it}. There are many social networking sites available on the internet for you to join, friendster, myspace and facebook are some of the more popular ones. I too am on a few of these four to be exact (facebook, linkln, myspace, WAYN) I got roped into joining by friends. I figured what the hay, just sign up and see what happens, most times nothing much other times you find old friends and in the case of facebook, something to pass the time. My first foray into these sites was with WAYN (Where Are You Now) which I join because one of my former industrial attachment students linked me up with it. I think he is still linked in there as I hardly ever go in except for once in a really blue moon where there is some message or other happening’s at the site. I think this was about 3 years or so ago maybe longer did not really remember. MySpace was the next account, it was from my cousin who is mainly into movies and music and stuff. I guess he is very active in there from the looks of his profile. As for me again just a sleeper who only just has an account created in there and visits the site once a month or so. When I was a warden at the Church of St. Anthony’s one of the fellow wardens signed me up on Linkln, guess it’s the second most used site by me. Fairly active in there but it’s mainly used by me to approve contacts and such, update my profile etc. It’s a great site to find people as well or to be found. The last site I’m on was Facebook, which due to the amount of games and what not in there, it’s quite an addictive site. It was introduced to me by a gamer friend of mine, I think about 6 months or so ago. It’s so far the only site I logon frequently, to see what stuff is being sent to me and what to play. I have to admit the last 2 sites Linkln and Facebook are sites that have help me catch up with old friends, colleagues and long lost acquaintances. Most people who contact me on Linkln, I get them to move over to Facebook since I am there most often. I think somehow it’s easier for people to find me than for me to find someone especially if they have a relatively common name. My name is fairly unique and I was told it’s quite easy to find my name in the pack, afterall, there aren’t many Aldrin Long’s out there. Try googling your name and you might be surprise to see the facebook or myspace account as being in the top search return. (does not work for mine though) Linkln has help me to link up with my old Primary School friend who I have not seen for close to 20 years, last I saw him was during my army days. He lives in New York currently. Got found out by 3 or 4 old colleagues from when I first started out working. Even found a couple of friends from University. A few former wardens have pop in as well but most have moved to facebook now. Wonder how many more are out there. Facebook hooked me up with more recent colleagues as well as some old Junior College friends one of whom is happily living with his family in the US. Even my insurance agent is on facebook. Former colleagues, more university buddies and friends and a host of wardens have joined facebook, together with gaming friends. The latest addition was a gamer friend from 8 or 10 years back who popped in the other day on facebook, he always had a certain wild streak in him. So it was a real surprise to find him in Melbourne completing his doctorate studies. There were even some people who link up just because we played stuff on facebook, how cool is that. I find that Facebook besides being a place to keep in touch with family and friends has many applications to cater to your fancy, I have to admit, it’s the main reason I’m on it. Yep that’s right just to play the games. Anyways I guess I have spent too long writing this out, off to facebook to pet my fluffy pet, sent my dragon out to fight, get my Batmobile racing, sent my Pirates out to beat up the Ninjas, play tic-tac-toe, make my move on Scabulous and see who has decided to challenge me in Scissor-Paper-Stone. Since writing this I took some time to check my 4 accounts and yes they are all still active. To Note : Current facebook addiction is to get a Gold Cup for my fluff pet, the missus has hers already and I’m still struggling. Also to move my Pirate up to Level 7 and swap out my Batmobile for a Delorean (from Back to the Future) or an F1 car.