OurSpace

From the perspective of a student, one sees that we live in a world full of divisions. Sometimes to see these divisions, one has to take a peripheral stance in order to capture their full meaning. Such is the constant collapse, clashing and merging between physical and virtual socialization. According to MySpace, as of April 25, 2008, 11,984 people are listed as current Fullerton College students between the ages of 18 and 68. With an FC academic year enrollment of 19,669, this means 61 percent of all FC students have MySpace accounts, not including those who have not listed themselves as FC students on their pages.

So what are the gears that drive us to that expectant MySpace page as it waits to be doted upon, paying its virtual homage to the constant scrolling and clicking actions we reinforce?

Sergio Banda, a professor of sociology at FC, attributes such factors of social networking site interaction to the times in which we live. "In this world we live in today, I think that students see it is a viable way of communicating with others," he said. He also attributes such factors to our need for instant gratification and social visibility: "It's easy. It's simple. It's cool," he said. "It's effective and everybody's doing it, or at least the illusion is everybody is doing it. I think young people are attracted to all those things." Banda went on to reflect, "You can communicate just about anywhere that you have access to a computer. A lot of people have said that we live in this wired society where you have cell phones, you have different ways of communicating; and MySpace and those Web sites, they're just an extension of that."

Through conversations with his students and observation of the physical makeup of MySpace and Facebook profiles Banda observes that our need for a community of any type is linked with the strong conversion and peer pressure among students to utilize social Web sites. As Banda states "It's almost like a 'cool' factor where you almost feel inadequate if you don't have something like this." He goes on to note that while the popularity of social networking sites is not universal in their reach in any way, social networking sites are utopian in their efforts to link communities as Banda identifies that one advantage of utilizing such sites makes it so the "Internet becomes a great equalizer."

Referring to socialization, Banda states "When you're in a circle of friends you have to almost set up a pecking order where somebody is the leader, somebody is the person who monopolizes the conversation, the knowledge and so on."

"Not with these sites. If somebody goes to your site, your voice essentially will be heard. If they come to your site, well, then they chose to hear what you had to say or what you're into, what you like."

The need to post MySpace bulletins when bored, Facebook wall comments to relate a juicy tidbit on the day's gossip or to simply edit and re-edit profiles just for the sake of editing them all characterize an engagement in a microcosm of the social networking universe known as the applications; gizmos and gadgets that come along with the territory of social networking sites. Due to the perpetuations of our actions when engaged with these applications, Banda relays that it's no big secret to the gurus behind sites such as Facebook when it comes to drawing our attention as college students as he iterates, "I think that's exactly where the industry is going or at least we're told, that's where it's going. I think a huge testament to all of this is what's happening with Facebook and the guy [Mark Zuckerberg] who owns it. They're offering this guy literally, billions of dollars. And he's say-ing 'No, I'm holding off.' Why? Because he knows that based on techies and the industry itself, this is where [so-ciety is] heading."

Such applications and perks of MySpace and Facebook are appealing factors to any student engaged in virtual social networking as each application and link is part of, according to Banda, an interconnected "system where you can have everything."

When it comes to the actual profiles of MySpace and Facebook, putting a page to a face is the difference between having a long lasting relationship with a fellow peer or resorting to more drastic measures and clicking that delete key for the rest. Going behind the mental mechanics that drive social site users to make such choices between "adding" that stranger as a friend or "deleting" that despised spammer, Banda relates our culture's need to judge based on exterior appearance can be attributed to the choices we make on social networking sites. Through our nonchalant nature in determining whether one is a friend or foe, Banda explains that unlike the generations before us, as part of the "Millennial" generation, college students and young people in general sacrifice an idea that has slowly come to wither with age - privacy.

When it comes to social networking through the Internet, Banda observes that "a lot of times young people don't have the awareness of how intrusive other people can be in your private lives." While he alludes to the advantages we have as students when being granted the tools to broadcast our lives through the Web, Banda believes that with every perk there is a catch. "I think that there is a potential for problems when you make your life completely public," he said.

Along with the vanishing of the various degrees of privacy we once had, Banda also notes the disadvantages one can suffer from when socializing too much on the Internet as opposed to socialization in reality. In relation to the time one spends perusing the avenues of social networking sites, Banda states "If it becomes time consuming where this is taking away from other things, then that's a problem."

In our newfound ability to push the parameters of privacy, one can alter how they wish to be perceived by others through social networking sites as he goes on to mention, "I've seen some [pages] and they have a long list of books and I have to wonder, 'have you really read those books or is it cool to say that you have?'" Again, drawing from that "cool" factor, Banda attempts to familiarize himself with the lingo of MySpace page modification as he concludes, "The more, 'tricked,' 'pimped out' your site is, then the more important this is to you and details matter. Is this is an extension of what we do in society? I think it is." Banda asserts that while such issues of profile manipulation [are used] in order to convey a certain response, users may take advantage of privacy; it is an integral part of the social networking culture. He adds "If you think about the different forms or types of pants and shirts and dress styles that we have to choose from, we don't just walk into a store and say, 'I need a shirt.' A shirt is going to provide the main purpose ... to be clothed and to be within the moral conduct and code of wherever it is you live. But we select what we're going to wear. And what we wear essentially sends a message. And I think that the same thing applies to those Web sites. It's very important for people to communicate a message."