The ups and downs of social networking

Social networking once meant meeting people face to face, sitting down and having a coffee. And it still does. Though the meaning of social networking has merely grown as lot of us have come to use social networking sites online. We read our friends profile pages, make comments and reply to the comments of others.

While some may believe that online social networking is a complete waste of time, studies have shown that using new media to socialize (whether on MySpace, Facebook, or in chatrooms) gives us better technological and literary skills to succeed in the contemporary world of new media.

But are these sites necessarily a good thing? A recent comment by a leader of the Catholic Church in England says that they aren’t.

He says that social networking sites lead us to develop brief relationships that lead us to feel suicidal.

While I admit that I’ve had random conversations with people I don’t know on the web, I don’t think that social networking sites equal suicide.

I’m no expert, but I think that most people use social networking sites to socialize with people that they already know and occasionally people they don’t.

How does social networking make you feel? What do you use social networking for?