What is Social Networking?

Social networks involve people from all parts of the world. As Facebook has expanded since its original creation, the 500 million active users (Facebook statistics) use the social network source for numerous reasons. Members join groups, poke others, and of course, connect with their friends (Westlake, 28). Huberman, Romero, and Wu explain that the overall idea of social networks is that they imply that one connects with all members within their “network.” However, the irony of this is that one actually interacts with few of the listed people within that network (Huberman, Romero, Wu, 2). E.J. Westlake, author of “Friend me if you Facebook,” explains that social networks cause us to reveal ourselves more than we may feel comfortable to. Westlake says that, “The predominately generation Y Facebook community uses Facebook to define the boundaries of normative behavior through unique performances of an online self” (23). This refers to Michel Foucault’s interpretation of the panoptic model, where people begin to self-regulate themselves because they believe they are being watched. Westlake says that, “The Panopticon is all the more effective not because individuals are surveyed and reported to an authority, but because individuals are punished by others” (36). Social networking, especially Facebook, thrives off of self-regulation and yearning to be socially accepted by one’s Facebook friends.

Since the Westlake’s article was published in 2008, he mentioned that people would ask others, “Do you Facebook?” on college campuses, to see if they could “friend” them. However, nowadays, people already assume that everyone has a Facebook, and if they don’t, it’s a rarity. Social networking means that people can interact in the cyber world in a way that people 10 years ago couldn’t even imagine. Between "Tweeting," "Facebook friending," and "MySpace stalking," social networking makes people closer than ever.

Huberman, Bernardo A., Daniel M. Romero, and Fang Wu. "Social Networks That Matter: Twitter under the Microscope." Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .

"Statistics | Facebook." Welcome to Facebook. Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .

Westlake, E.J. "Facebook: Friend Me If You Facebook. Generation Y and Performative Surveillance." Web. 19 Jan. 2011. .