So why do children enjoy this type of communicating/learning?

Social Networking Websites – Bebo, Myspace, Friendster etc.
Social networking websites are a massive online phenomenon. Writing on the 27th March 2006, MySpace is the fifth most popular website in the world according to Alexa Web Information Service. Bebo, another social networking website, claims to have half a million Irish users. The Sunday Independent recently claimed it was the most popular website in Ireland. Visits to either of these sites would leave you scratching your head wondering how a seemingly amateurish collection of random pictures and misspelled blogs could have sprung from nowhere to be the hottest thing on the web.

The common denominator of both sites is the profile of the users; they are mostly secondary school and college students. By offering a combination of web hosting, e-mail, picture sharing, messaging, and internet telephony services these sites have struck a chord with a whole new generation of web users.

What is social networking?
Social networking websites were originally set up in the late 1990s to enable friends to stay in touch with each other. In 2003 Friendster was launched and soon became the most successful website at using the ‘Circle of Friends’ technique for connecting people.
“ MySpace is the fifth most popular website in the world .”

Google has its own social network called Orkut, which was launched in 2004 and in 2005 Yahoo launched Yahoo 360, it’s social networking offering. The popularity of these sites rapidly grew, and in 2005 MySpace was purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for $580 Million.

Social networking sites develop from an initial set of members who send out messages inviting their friends to join the site. New members repeat the process, growing the total number of members and links in the network. The value of the network for members is exponentially linked to the number of people in the network.

Social networking sites offer features such as automatic address book updates, viewable profiles, the ability to form new links through "introduction services," and other forms of online social connections. These networks tend to be organized around shared common interests. MySpace, for example, builds on independent music and party scenes, and Tribe.net is organised around geographical location.

Bebo, is an online community where friends can post pictures, write blogs and send messages to one another. Each member has their own personal page, on which they can tell the world about their likes and dislikes, their favourite films and music and post up photos of their lives. Bebo links people together through the schools and colleges. This is significant in Ireland because Bebo has an extensive database of Irish schools and colleges that users can join.

What are some of things young people are doing on these sites?

1. Creating profiles:
Once they are registered with the website, users post a profile of themselves which can be read by others online. The goal is to look cool and to be acknowledged by their peers as being cool. The number of page views on a users profile is a proxy indicator of how popular they are. For users the more views the better.

2. Adding links to their friends profiles:

The next step is to invite their existing contacts to join their profile. They are usually invited from their existing e-mail and messenger contact lists.

3. Creating their own blogs and posting comments on other people’s profiles:
An explicit reaction to their online presence offers valuable feedback to teenagers as they strive to create their identity. Comments are also a sign of affection and affiliation. There is a definite social etiquette at play; comments are expected to be reciprocated.

4. Sharing photos
Why do teenagers do this?Many teens are using social networking sites everyday; it’s just another part of their life. They are natural born multi-taskers and can be surfing social networking sites while doing their homework, downloading music, or chatting on Instant Messenger. They want to be with their friends in a space that isn’t contaminated by adults and because of the constraints imposed on them; they rarely get the opportunity to do this outside their virtual environment.

According to Conor Galvin (Lecturer in Education University College Dublin ), the simple answer is because they like it, and they can. Bebo becomes a personalised space where they can present themeselves in a way that they control. And as Danah Boyd – one of the world’s leading authorities on social networking software – recently observed: “Most of their [teenagers] space is controlled space. Adults with authority control the home, the school, and most activity spaces. Teens are told where to be, what to do and how to do it. Because teens feel a lack of control at home, many don't see it as their private space.

“To them, private space is youth space and it is primarily found in the interstices of controlled space. These are the places where youth gather to hang out amongst friends and make public or controlled spaces their own. Bedrooms with closed doors, for example… By going virtual, digital technologies allow youth to (re)create private and public youth space while physically in controlled spaces.”

In short, places like Bebo allow young people to experiment in reasonable safety with versions of who they are. They try out various presentations of themselves, get feedback from friends and peers and work on ideas about 'cool' fashion and language all to better represent the person they want to be.

There are potential risks to using social networking sites, most young people are aware of that these risks exist and yet they still come in their thousands to these sites. For them the benefits far outweigh the risks.