They are the people who bail you out when you are in trouble. They are the people who make you smile when you’re sad, they are the people who love you and support you even when you make mistakes. Your life is incomplete without them. Can you guess who they are? If your answer is ‘Friends’, then you are absolutely right! Yes friends are the people who can make a lot of difference in your life. The saying, “Choose your friends wisely” is so true because your choice of friends reflects the kind of person you are. Every individual has a different way of defining the word ‘friend’; for some they are just a social contact while for some a treasure worth dying for. Irrespective of the ways a friend is defined they play an important role in every stage of your life.
As once said by a wise man, ‘The value of something is known only when we lose it’. The above said words are so true in case of friendship. Often we realize the value of friendship or friends only when they are gone. I am sure; we all must have come across such a situation at least once in our life time. It could be when you first passed your 10th grade and moved to another state or city for higher education or many be your father had a job which required you to move very often. I am sure at least once in our life time we all have been in a situation which reminded us of that special person or people you once shared your feelings with.
In the olden days when 2 friends were separated due to various circumstances they often wrote to each other or spoke over the phone. However with the birth of internet the world has become a smaller place. Your friend may go anywhere on this earth but you can still be in touch with each other through each e-mails, chats, etc. Internet has been a boon to many long distance friendships as people can now still be in touch with one another without much hassle.
Social networks can’t be left out, when talking about friendship and the ways of finding your friends. These social networks play an important role when it comes to staying connected with your friends. These not only help you connect with your old buddies but also help you make new friends. Now days they play an important part and these networks can be technically defined as “a social formation that consist of individuals (or groups) known as “nodes”, that are connected by 1 or more precise kind of interdependency, like kinship, friendship, financial exchange, common interest, dislike, or sexual relationships, relationships of knowledge beliefs, or status.” These days one can find many social networking sites like facebook (commonly known as FB), Twitter, Orkut, etc where one can not only connect but also make new friends. Let us read about some of the most famous sites which are commonly used by people all over the world.
Facebook social networking
Facebook is the most popular networking site used across the world. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg along with a few of his college roomies and computer science classmates who wanted to stay connected. Today, it has more than 750 million active users and one can not only find their old friend but also make new once. Besides making friends Facebook allow you to create a profile, add or remove friends, exchange messages with your friends, find an old friend, etc. It is a platform that has helped many people all around the globe to come close to each other. Moreover one can join common-interest user groups that are organized by school, workplace or college, etc. It helps people come together and join the cause they have always wanted to. You can find you long lost friend by either typing their name or email id and if they exist on Facebook you can connect, chat or share your feelings with them by writing on their wall. In case they are not on Facebook you can send them an invite to join the same by just emailing them.
Orkut social networking
Google Inc is the owner of Orkut which is another social networking site that help you stay in touch with your loved ones, friends and families. Similar to the other social networking sites, it allows you to make friends too. The site has gained huge popularity in Brazil and India and an Orkut subscriber has an option of adding add videos from Google video or YouTube. You can also create unrestricted and restricted polls for these videos. Moreover as an Orkut user you also have the leverage to add your GTalk that helps you chat and share files with your friends.
LinkedIn social networking
LinkedIn is different in comparison to most of the other social networking sites as it is mostly related for business purpose. It is sites where you can upload you resume and connect to your old colleagues from your previous company. You can also share your LinkedIn profile with your new acquaintance or call you old colleagues to connect with you.
MySpace social networking
MySpace, yet another social networking site helps one stay in touch with their old buddies and also make new ones. It has a Groups feature, which permits a group of users to contribute to a message board or common page. Anyone can create these groups and the administrator or the moderator of that group has the privilege to allow anyone to join, deny or approve requests to join. One of the striking features of MySpace is the ‘Moods Option’. These are small emotions that depict the user moods. Moreover if you hold a Twitter account then the tweets on twitter are automatically updated on MySpace. There is no need for synchronization of the 2 accounts.
Twitter social networking
Twitter is yet another online micro blogging and social networking site, which allows all its users to read and send text-based posts of up to 140 typeset. These messages or post are also called “tweets”. You stay connected with your loved ones, friends by just sending them tweets about what is happening all over the globe or in your life. Moreover it allows you to make friends by just following a particular person on twitter. The more followers you have the more friends you make and this way you not only stay connected with your friends but also make new friends.