Adaobi Nwaneli
Staff Writer
aonwaneli@valdosta.edu

“Oh I know her! She’s my facebook and myspace friend!”

That’s a phrase heard too often these days. Facebook and Myspace in the last two years seem to have become the place to be, everybody has a profile, businesses, musicians and even parents – how spooky!

These social networking sites were created as a tool of networking, finding old friends and keep in touch with people you know.

That’s not always the case though.

Everyday you log on and get friend requests from people you know and some you don’t know. That’s when the mystery comes in.

“I accept people I don’t know,” Jay Prosser, French and History major, sophomore, said. “Usually if I accept them as a friend, I have other friends in common with them.”

Why add people you dont know? Because they’re attractive, their “about me” is interesting so therefore they intrigue you and since it is a networking site, you add and network with them.

After the adding of these strangers, what then?

Every now and again you leave a comment or send a message saying hi. That’s doable when you have a couple friends, 50 to 200, but when you reach 500 or 2000 friends, how do you keep in touch with that many people? It’s very possible to leave comments and messages for that many people but that would mean spending hours on the internet.

“I know all my friends on my Facebook, some I talk to more than others, but that doesn’t bother me,” Dorian Lyles, Early Childhood Education, sophomore, said.

Personally I can relate to both issues. I do know a lot of my friends, some from past and some I currently know and talk to. I talk to some and some are just there just in case you never know when you need somebody so it’s important.

As far as keeping touch with that many friends, it is possible to speak to over 600 people, unfortunately takes away from speaking to people face to face but that is the life of some people.