Essay

Global urbanization and the accumulated knowledge are strongly influenced by the situation in the world. Numerous cultural events, concerts, festivals, seminars and parties to this day collect a huge number of people regardless of cultural and national identity.
 * Virtual Social Image of Youths**

Mobile Internet has finally decided the dilemma: to be “offline” (not online) in the real world or to be “online”, but being tied to one place (room, or worse, the basement). After the appearance of Internet access via mobile devices, the difference between “offline” and “online” ceased to exist. Traveling all over the world and, consequently, meeting new people became easier, cheaper and safer. Booking a hotel with a help of the mobile phone is no longer a problem, now it can be done at any time. Social networks are widely used by people of different ages, especially by youth, who stay online the majority of their time, communicating and sharing information. Social networks therefore, have become a modern trend in the world, and an indispensable part of life of humanity.

Modern youth is trying to alter their image through online social sites such as Facebook and twitter. Young people try to be themselves online, while offline they are different. The majority of youth are using their personal information and photos to share online in social networks, showing how they live, what they do, what they consume and what places they visit. They “collect” followers on twitter and “likes” on Facebook. This kind of game becomes more and more interesting for people all over the world and there are many opportunities that people see in using social networks, as stated in //A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies////.// For example, young people have certain image and prejudices in offline life; however, when they go online, they try to show their real “me” and convince people with their photos and thoughts that in reality the youth represents other things and has another philosophy. Consequently, it can be said that the online way of life offers people opportunities and gives chances to show the world what they can, to promote themselves, to sell their skills and to become more interesting and open new sides of them.

Social network in the Internet can be described as a virtual network where the users of services can communicate with each other to form connections between different users and the provision of related interfaces. In simple terms, the social network represents the site where the user can enter some information about himself/herself (school, work place, name, etc.), on which it can find other users who belong to this network. Initially, Internet users communicated through email and chat; however, subsequently later began to appear more convenient means of communication of “interest”, such as guest books, forums and blogs. With such developments, social networks began to emerge, in which the users are present and communicate: one school, one town, etc.

In the development of social networks, they began to form their common features:  - Must be a registered user, that is a unique institution account; - Enter some data to identify the user; - Enter additional information about yourself; - Some other services (for downloading photos, etc.).

At present, social networks represent a place for communication of hundreds of millions of users worldwide. With the development of social networks are granted more and more new services that increase the interest of users to this type of communication. Modern s ocial network is aimed at building a sense of community on the Internet for people of similar interests and / or activities. Communication takes place via web service internal mail or instant messaging. People are actively using the services and share information online with the rest of the world.

In different regions, the popularity of social networking is different. Thus, the network MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are more popular and prevalent in North America. Other networks include, Nexopia (Canada); Bebo (UK); Facebook, Hi5, dol2day (Germany), Tagged.com (English), XING (English) and Skyrock (across Europe); Public Broadcasting Service, Orkut, Facebook and Hi5 (South and Central America) (55% of Brazilian users Networks prefer Orkut); Friendster, Multiply, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld (Asia). On the number of users leading Facebook (500 million), MySpace (255 million), Twitter (200,000,000) Windows Live Spaces (120 million), Habbo Hotel (121 million), in contact (110 million), Friendster (the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, 90000000), Hi5 (80,000,000), Tagged.com (70 000 000), as described in //Social Networking////.// What is troubling is that many people do not realize that information posted by them on social networks can be found and used by anyone, including those that do not necessarily possess good intentions. Your “digital identity” refers to the reputation and impression you create and how others perceive you online. Information of participants on social networks may be found by their employers, parents, children, former or current wives or husbands, debt collectors, criminals, law enforcement and so on. For example, a known case where a criminal was looking outwardly for women via social networks killed the chosen female victims and sold their apartments. Furthermore, debt collectors sometimes even use social networks to find defaulters or to obtain information about the client’s property.

On the other hand, some employers forbid the use of social networks - not just for the sake of economy, but also to prevent the leakage of information, as stated in //Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens. //According to Parsons, a political science PhD candidate and digital media researcher, the majority of employers today will Google their prospective employees or conducts Facebook searches before considering hiring them. Since the social networking service has been integrated into our social life over the years and therefore is considered as the norm, photos of drinking or clubbing are not of great concern to employers, but illegal usage of drugs might be. It is important to note that having and maintaining an active online social profile is an attractive selling point as an employee, but the key is to be aware of the digital footprints you are leaving. There are negative aspects just as much as positive aspects to social networking online; thus a healthy balance should be achieved.

Gone are the days when the word “online” was considered synonymous with social isolation and loneliness. In fact, we understand that the opposite has happened: technology has made people form communities online and physically meet each other in the real world. As a result, technology has caused new opportunities and services to emerge, such as social networks, as described in //Social Networking. //  As experts predicted, the development of Internet technologies (projections were made over a dozen years ago), hundreds of millions of people, most of their lives sit in front of the computer that is “online”. However, this does not mean that a whole generation has become closed embittered zombies (according to another, no less popular forecast). Everything turned out differently; social media and mobile communications will impact on the union of groups of people with similar interests, ignoring all the statements on the reduction of real communication between people in the era of “online technologies”.

Thus, a future that has been drawn as a virtual world that is able to absorb most of the consumers, did not come true. People still continue to communicate and meet in the real world. It is no secret that the online revolution has made hundreds of millions of people in the active Internet users. They seek and find friends, exchange information with their peers in the virtual world, communicating and interacting with one another. The emergence of GPS technology to access the global network has been made possible with a mobile phone almost anywhere in the world. Continuous updates give an impetus to the rapid growth of online dating sites, blogs, social networks and other online communities. Consequently, the real world has become a big blast zone. Social networks has managed to simplify the lives for millions of people who do not have an opportunity to meet and talk whenever and wherever they want.

Internet community adheres to the principle of consumer behavior, which is based on satisfaction of natural human needs, not just the usual for them, but in new ways. In this case, the interaction of people in the online community is a fundamental human need, to meet that is easier thanks to new technologies.

Probably, almost every one of us on the Internet has a personal page, where we tell about ourselves, share photos, make new friends and participate in interesting topics, as we agree to find like-minded people or to maintain already existing relationships through social networks, which has become much easier and faster than ever. The networks discuss friends, family affairs, work, sex, hobbies, politics and travel. We do not miss any news feed, and never before have had we had so many personal ties. Statistics show that the number of users of Twitter micro-blogging as at December 2010 has already exceeded 150 million, while the worldwide social networking site Facebook has more than 500 million users. In 2010, Compete.com shows that within April, there has been over 135 million unique visitors just in the United States, while general usage among users have been increasing monthly as well.

It is safe to say that social media is a powerful medium. As Franklin D Roosevelt said: ‘with great power, comes great responsibility.’ We are arming the youth of today with abilities that we could have only dreamed of. Social media, specifically social networks, allow individuals to be constantly connected. The power of anonymity is incredible. People that are shy, or social outcasts in schools, or kids that just don’t get along with their peers, have the ability of numerous fresh starts online. There are thousands of online communities to join and to befriend billions of people. This power of being anonymous and the ability to delete your profile and creating a new one sometimes leads to misinformation being posted online. Some kids would “beef up” their profile in order for them to be popular online. Other users post pictures that don’t belong to them because they believe that those pictures are more attractive and hence it will cause them to become popular. This double life, or in some cases more, cannot be healthy. When do you lose sight of which persona is real? If one becomes immersed by the popularity in the “online” world, and is picked on at school on the “offline” world, why would that kid go to school? Regardless of the way they are used, these mediums are powerful tools.

All in all, I would like to note that the social networks have become indispensable resources for people, especially youth all over the world. Social networks in the modern world offer plenty opportunities for people to find a job, to communicate, to make new friends, to find love and to document their way of living. Sharing information has become extremely popular and people cannot live without this anymore. Humanity is getting used to spending more and more time online, communicating in comfort with any person in the world while erasing the borders of countries.

Works cited A Wider World: Youth, Privacy, and Social Networking Technologies. 2006. 2 March 2011.  Barney, Darin David. //The Network Society//. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2004. Print. Casserly, Meghan. "Multiple Personalities And Social Media: The Many Faces of Me." //Forbes//. 26 Jan. 2011. Web. . ==Social Networking Sites: Safety Tips for Tweens and Teens. 2010. 2 March 2011. ==  Social Networking. 2011. 2 March 2011. <http://mashable.com/category/social-networking/> Compete Records Facebook’s Largest Month. 2010. 2 March 2011. <http://www.allfacebook.com/compete-records-facebooks-largest-month-2010-05> Social Networking 101: Facebook and your digital reputation. 2009. 2 March 2011. <http://www.nationalpost.com/most-popular/story.html?id=1993356>