My first foray into social media was with Friendster, way way back in 2004 when mainstream social media websites were in their infancy. Back then, you had an account because all your friends did, and not having one and connecting with all your friends was a serious social faux pas. It was merely a way to identify with a crowd that, by and large, did not have much in common besides being our Friendster connections.
In many ways, being on Friendster taught me a lot about social connections. Simply being “friends” with people on social media is a very promiscuous thing to do, since affirming an online friendship is as simple as a click away. There's no trial period where you have to get to know the person and see how he or she fits into your life; just an easy “accept” button is enough to let that person into your online network. It's no surprise then that the majority of friends I made on Friendster did not stay my friends in real life.
Now, even though Facebook being the dominant social media monster on the internet, the social culture of promiscuous friendship is still pretty much the same. Except this time I am well-versed in how this thing works, and I try to ensure that all my Facebook friends are people that I am actually friends with in real life.
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