1. Social Networking has changed human relations

Nowadays, Internet is the best way to keep in touch with a lot of people at the same time. Social Networking has changed the human relations the most since their existence.

Most of the people consider that Facebook, Tuenty, Google groups or Twitter are the best way to exchange daily information with family, friends, colleagues or, sometimes, with your boss.

If we had known 20 years ago that Internet would be able to create a worldwide network to exchange messages, photographs or videos on line, we would probably have thought that it was impossible. But now it's real and we can do it 24 hours a day.

2. Main Social Networking sites

The most popular Social Networking sites nowadays are Facebook, Twitter, Google groups and Tuenty (for young people).

Now Facebook has one thousand million users all over the world while Twitter has five hundred million followers.

In all of them, users create a profile with their personal information and through it they can communicate all kind of text or media messages.

In Twitter, you have a strict limit of 140 characters to give your opinion on line. Sometimes you can read last minute news on Twitter sooner than in the mass media.

Recently, Facebook has changed it's interface into another format called biography. You can add all your life's events with the date and share with all your "cyber friends".

3. Social Networking advantages and disadvantages

The psychologists say that people can have more friends on the internet than in their real life but, is that a good or a bad thing? It depends. Social Networking is a good way to communicate but it shouldn't be the only one.

Fifty per cent of young people between the age of twelve and seventeen use Social Networking every day. They wouldn't be able to think in a world without Internet. However, only sixteen per cent of the adults use Social Networking only at work.

Disadvantages:

If you use Social Networking on your computer, iPad or mobile phone during the day, it's very difficult to keep or separate your private life from the business world and it is dangerous because it can be very stressful.

We share a lot of personal data on the Internet and this data never disappears. So, this can harm our privacy. We can lose the control of the information .

Twenty years ago, if you wanted to speak to a friend, you could meet with him or her and have a long conversation or exchange letters if you lived in different cities. But now, it's so easy to chat or send a messages on Facebook that the human relationships have changed and become more impersonal.

Inside home, things are changing too. Some people, instead of talking to his or her partner, parents or other relatives, prefer to use Social Networking during breakfast, after lunch or at night.

In the street, it's quite normal to see people using their iPhones or smartphones, sending Whats App or using Facebook. You can see people doing that at the bus stop or on the underground, too. Wouldn't it be better to read a book instead of this?

At work, sometimes, we prefer to send a private message by internet to our colleague than to have a conversation over a cup of coffee, for example.

Social Networking is sometimes dangerous because people may lie on their profiles. They use information about themselves that they wanted to share only to have the biggest number of “cyber friends”.

Parents have to be very careful with their children to know if they are in touch with unknown people.

Advantages

But Social Networking has a lot of advantages, too: communications are easier, you can share information with people all over the world and it's the best way to have information before reading it in newspapers or watching it on TV.

Everybody can participate with their opinion on Twitter at the same time.

You can search information about all subjects on Google.

Some people use Social Networking to find a partner. There are specific websites to create a profile and try to get a date with somebody or choose from a plethora of profiles. In this kind of profiles, people lie a lot but it's a good way of meeting new friends or lovers.

4. Social Networking in the future

I wonder about social networking's future. What's coming up next in the world of social media?

Physical and digital worlds will be more connected than ever before. We'll be able to share all we do 24 hours a day.

Companies which are not using social networking will disappear. All of them must have a website and a media manager to keep the company's information updated.

Human relationships will no longer be as physically dependent and we will befriend and hang out with people from all over the world and all walks of life, every ethnicity and every belief, creating a worldwide meeting point.

What do you think is coming up next in the social media?