They're all on Bebo

I had heard of social networking sites such as Bebo and myspace via the media, but until today I'd never actually bothered to check them out. I was talking to a friend recently who is studying at college and they mentioned that they had a page on Bebo, along with loads of their friends

I have to say I was really, really surprised to see how many people I know are using Bebo after only a few minutes of browsing (find a friend, then look at their friends and so on). Most pages are accessible to all (you don't need to register). There's quite a spread in terms of the age profile...but most of the people I know on there are in the 15-25 age group.

Here's what struck me about the whole thing:

1.) How it provides a means to project a certain persona. Whether it's via pictures, text or video you can come across in whatever way you like. It's always fascinating to compare what you know of people in person and what they share on something like this.

2.) Do their parents (or teachers!) ever look at these sites? Would it make a difference to what you post if you knew you're mother was reading? Of course you can restrict access to your page to registered users only... but the vast majority of pages I viewed weren't' blocked.

3.) It really does create a whole online/virtual community...and the scope for negative aspects such as bullying or voyerurism is real. However the positives of such a space should over shadow any negatives and I certainly wouldn't put off someone from having such a site (assuming you take some sensible precautions and realise that it's not just your close trusted friends who are viewing...your parents, teachers and other adults can use the internet too!)

4.) All of the above applies to some extent to blogs, including this one. Which makes me wonder about continuing this blog long term...what would I say? I have to remember that my family, friends, work colleagues, fellow Church members etc. could all be reading!