I am thousands of miles away from my home and even though I call up everyday there is a need to better connect to my family and friends as if I was living with them. It allows you to be omnipresent to some extent. You feel connected and a part of them. The time that you waste is a conscious decision on your end. It is a great source to find information.
This reminds me of my summer of 2008 when I was preparing to come to USA for higher studies. First thing when you type in class of 2008 MSU in google, will return results from social networking sites. I joined MSU 2008 group on a social networking site called Orkut which is very popular in India. Though a similar group existed on Facebook, the number of users there were insignificant as compared to the one in Orkut. So obviously my choice was Orkut. It was an immense source of information, which gave me all the details from Visa information to how many socks I need to carry. It allowed me to connect to other Indians with whom I am going to spend time in campus.
However Manjoo says that it has reached to a point where it can be compared to having a cell phone. This raises interesting questions. Cell phone allows me to synchronously communicate with somebody. If I don’t pick up the cell phone, it is considered as offensive. Facebook on the other hand allows for asynchronous communication, without being intrusive. Though I completely agree to the benefits of having an account, I will surely not want it to be intruding into my personal space.
