Social Networking is here. And while there are allegations of disappearing users; the truth is that time spent on facebook and other behemoth social networking sites seems to have overtaken time spent on Google. In addition, if you look around you’ll find that pretty much everyone has an internet landing page. And while the more tech-centric folks will have the “Works”— web site, a blog, a tumblr, a Facebook profile and a LinkedIn profile (and don’t forget a Twitter account), I think we’ll be hard-pressed to find someone completely void of the net home. The most anti-social individual still needs to earn money and thus will have at least a LinkedIn profile that doubles as a resume.

Social Networking 1.0

So what is everyone doing? The spectrum of social activity is quite colorful. On one side you’ll find the simplest facebook user. Everyone has one of these in their account; this is the “friend” that has a landing page only to be found and contacted; he won’t post anything, won’t reply to anything, and probably doesn’t even log-in unless he has to accept a friend request. His use is what you can akin to a P.O. box. As you cross the spectrum, you’ll find the friend that reports every activity, every meal, every outing, and maybe every thought (hopefully not). We think most of us fall in the average band of the spectrum. We follow our friends’ journeys, as they graduate, get married, have kids, have birthdays, and have vacations. We find ourselves wishing them along their milestones, sharing some of our milestones or funny moments of our lives. Social networking 1.0 allows us to manage our networks, share our milestones, follow others; it creates the social fabric, if you will. Maybe the fabric will be colored less of Toral and more of Ashton Kutcher but we’re both there just the same. Where else can Ashton Kutcher follow you with just 1 click?

Move over Kids

Something interesting is happening; more and more grownups are getting in on the social fabric. We find it comforting to reconnect with old friends and far away relatives or even our next door neighbor. Maybe as we get older, it’s comforting to take some of our past with us. However, as more and more of us start to use the social network we can see a change of tide. We tend to expect more of our social network. We have said hi, we have wished folks happy birthday; what’s next? What is going to keep us adults interested? We believe that social interactions facilitated by these networks will grow up too.