Background of the Study

Basically the Internet was an emergency military communication system operated by the Department of Defense's advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). The whole operation was referred to as ARPANET. The speed of Internet has changed the way people receive the information. It combines the immediacy of broadcast with the in-depth coverage of newspapers making it perfect sources for news and weather information. Even with the multimedia excitement of the web, Electronic mail (email) is the most frequently used application of the Internet. Many people, who have access to the Internet at school, home and at work place use the Internet for no other purpose than to send and to receive the mail. It's not just friends and co-workers that are receiving email. Wherever you look, the web is providing email addresses. This has made communication between the strangers easier than ever. Chatting is one of the more popular activities on the Internet- people can talk to anyone across the world. Introduction of social online networking sites has facilitated communication. These are web-sites where users can create a profile and connect that profile to others to form an explicit personal network. They are web-based services that allow individuals to:

(1) Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system
(2) Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection and
(3) View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others

within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site. Through social networking, people can use networks of online friends and group memberships to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends or create real life friendships through similar interests or groups. Besides establishing important social relationships, social networking members can share their interests with other likeminded members by joining groups and forums. Some networking can also help members find a job or establish business contacts. Most social networking websites also offer additional features. In addition to blogs and forums, members can express themselves by designing their profile page to reflect their personality. The most popular extra features include music and video sections. The video section can include everything from member generated videos from hundreds of subjects to TV clips and movie trailers (Youtube). Social networking sites have facilitated communication. Members of such sites can easily form groups (called the communities) and share their opinions among themselves through discussion threads, forums and polls. Though these sites serves good in many ways, it has its negative effects too such as cyber crimes which has become a privacy threat to the people worldwide.
Although advantageous in many ways by building new relationship and reconnecting with lost or old contacts, it also brought up some behavioral changes among the youth, not only the behavioral changes but also their social behavior and approaches. It has also ended up as a nightmare for a few people.

Social interaction was present in early terminal-based computers, as well as via Usenet and other early Internet software. The modern era of social networking began as Internet performance rose and the Web took hold. From 1995 to 1997, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger were released, use of commercial phone-based text messaging ramped up, text messaging web portals emerged, and Classmates.com and Six Degrees appeared. Messaging brought the buddy lists and frequent, quasi-real-time communication that are a foundation on which social networking software builds. Mobile phone use and text-messaging also expanded the consumer space, notably to young consumers.

Many newer sites with a social networking component have prospered (e.g., Twitter, Flickr, YouTube), but the dominance of older sites suggests that timing was important. From 2002-2004, Cyworld, Friendster, Plaxo, Reunion.com, Hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Facebook, and Live Spaces were released or actively promoted. The six most active US sites at the time of our study were MySpace, Facebook, Classmates, LinkedIn, Live Spaces, and Reunion.com. Other sites are reportedly prominent elsewhere (Cyworld in Korea, Friendster in Asia, Hi5 in Spanish-speaking countries, Orkut in Brazil and India, QQ in China). Why 2002-2004? Among possible contributing factors were the bursting of the Internet bubble, which gave less ambitious software a chance for the spotlight, and increased online access by youths with IM experience. Early successes such as Friendster then inspired others.

The sprawling anarchy of MySpace is youth-oriented. Facebook also began as a youth-oriented website on college campuses. Whether or not this was by design, its trajectory made for a natural move into enterprises. Facebook student users built networks of friends poised to start professional careers. The initial restriction to universities created interest among professionals. In late 2005, employees of some major companies were granted Facebook access. A year later, it was opened to everyone. In contrast, LinkedIn targeted professional use from the start.