I read a cartoon strip the other day.
One mother to the other: My son is with a book always! How cool is that!
The other mother: On that’s nice. His grades must be really good then as he is with a book always.
First mother: He is on FaceBook. 
Have you been bit by the Facebook bug yet ? I must admit that I have been to some extent. However there have been many other issues of concern that I have been having. One of them being the importance of maintaining my privacy.
The way people use Facebook, Orkut and other social networking sites (SNS) have been a matter of interest to me. This difference is also a result of the cultural differences people have across countries. The fact is also that people have taken a conscious decision on their part (or alteast have thought about it), when it comes to decide what information that they want to share .
One of the things that I always face a problem is the amount of information that I would be sharing on these SNS. Facebook now is the first choice of people to share images amongst friends. I have heard many people request me to upload my professional photographs on Facebook. I have done so only to a limited extent.
Another large chunk of people use Facebook as a way of letting the world know each and every activity that they do. I mean seriously, is there any reason why I should know in such detail what the other person is doing. If I do, then it is a serious case of intruding into the other person’s privacy. However, wait! I did not intrude… It’s you who made that information public. So there is something going on here and this is where the notion of Publicy comes into the picture. It is not to be confused with the original concept of Publicy, which was commonly understood as the opposite of privacy.
What i am really talking about, is the publicy in a different context. Laurent Haug, writes about this phenomenon in his blog post titled “Publicy, the re-birth of privacy” . I think the post captures the essence of the phenomenon that is hitting the young generation today and is definitely something to think over. I know for a fact that after reading his post, I rethought about the stuff I posted up on the SNS.
A workout plan
Also, now I realize that the more that I spend time on these SNS, the more stuck to my laptop I am. I get more addicted to it. The kind of activities do not involve taking up the quizzes of playing online games, but its mostly just meeting and talking to people. I often fail to make myself understand why I cannot just go out and meet people in person. I do realize that I am starting to have a more of a virtual life and presence than that in the physical space.
And I think that is wrong. There is a certain charm of meeting up people in person, and that cannot be replicated by any virtual experience, no matter how realistic they claim to be.
I am sure numerous others would be in a similar if not same position. And needless to say that due to this shortage of time spending outside, there are a lot of health issues that could come up.
Here is something of a workout that someone came up with. I think it is pretty cool and people should follow it! I admit to not having come even close, but everytime I see it, I feel guilty.
Increasing the User Experience in SNS, aims at retaining the users for a longer period of time. However this should not come at the cost of the other things.
At the same time, I am highly interested in, and have actually been thinking whether the power of the social networking, penetration of the mobile phones and other technology, can be used in the domains where they can actually make a larger difference and that is for the mankind.
