《美国之音》2006第3季度上b012
Youth Drawn to Social Networking Web Sites
Sitting in the offices of their college newspaper with their work, these students are engaged in another popular collegiate pastime, reading about each other on social networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.
"'Do you really work at the library?” asked Erie, as she looked at Ryan’s online profile.
“Yeah, I really do,” Ryan replied.
“What do you do there?” asked Erie.
“I work in periodicals,” said Ryan.
Erie Meyer
“See, I'm finding things out about you right now! Our relationship has more depth now,” exclaimed Erie.
“But people should communicate this to each other. They shouldn't go on the computer and go, 'Uh, I know about this person.'”
“See, that's the thing,” said Erie. “People think MySpace and Facebook are some sort of alien form of interaction. In reality, it's just another depth of the communication we already use."
For millions of young people in the United States, MySpace and Facebook offer a new way to communicate.
MySpace says about 230,000 new members join each day, and more than 80-million people have created free profiles.
Facebook has almost eight-million members who share information, pictures and interests.
The process is as simple as logging on, writing a bit about yourself and what you do, e-mailing your friends asking them to visit your profile, and before you know it, you're interacting with your friends, your friends' friends, and even people you've never met -- all by sitting solo at your computer.
John Hiler is the co-founder of a similar social Web site, called Xanga. He says young people today experience a different social reality.
"When I was a kid, we would sit on my front door stoop, and chat with our friends, and we'd go to the swimming pool and hang out. That's no longer the sole experience. What we're seeing now is that people are choosing to live online, and they're choosing to wake up an hour early, before they go to school and they sign on to instant messenger, and they chat with their friends and they come home from school and they get back on to the Internet, and check their e-mail and spend all their time in cyberspace."
Xanga allows people to publish online, otherwise known as blogging. That gives users a chance to have their thoughts read by anyone with Internet access.
Facebook was designed to connect people who attended college together, allowing them to post pictures and send short messages.
MySpace is a more open forum, designed to connect people of all ages, interests and backgrounds.
People visit sites to find new connections, to plan events and often to revisit old friends and past parties. Erie Meyer is a student at the American University in Washington D.C.
"Particularly on a Monday, after a weekend of taking pictures on Facebook, I like to have it up to see what pictures are being posted of me. In true college tradition, weekends are crazy and on Monday morning there are hundreds and hundreds, sometimes thousands of photos uploaded of that weekend."
Users such as Erie check-in on people they haven't physically seen in a day or even a year.
"I worked in Spain over the summer and I've been able to keep in touch with people I met there through this. It's less formal than sending an e-mail with an update about my life."
Babak Balakhanlou, who was born in Iran, knows that social Web sites are not just an American phenomenon.
In addition to keeping up with college friends on Facebook. He also has a profile on a site run by Google called Orkut.
Orkut says some 350,000 Iranians have profiles, and it is also wildly popular with Brazilians, Indians, and Pakistanis.
"Orkut, I use mostly for keeping in touch with my Persian friends. I have a lot of Persian friends on there, as a matter of fact. I may have two or three non-Persian friends on there."
The online connection helped Babak reconnect in reality.
"I was able to locate a bunch of my friends that I hadn't kept in touch with in 10 years, using Orkut. I pretty much looked up the last name, or they looked up my last name or my name, and they found me, or I found them and it was good. And I actually ended up visiting them, visiting a couple of friends in Canada, after such a long time and it's good."
Musician Will Smith uses MySpace to reach out to people he does not already know.
A jazz musician and professor of music at American University. He is one of almost two million artists who use MySpace profiles to build their fan bases and make industry connections.
"(It's) one of the perfect tools to use, because it's basically free promotion. (It) allows you to connect with people you wouldn't normally connect with, such as people in the industry, even outside the industry. People around the world that you normally wouldn't have contact with."
The professor emphasizes the networking aspect of the social networking sites.
"I remember spending a whole night looking for DJs -- anyone that had a name with DJ in it, I was going to their page because part of the deal is to get your music heard by the people."
Visitors can listen to Will's songs on his MySpace profiles. That's one way his music made it across the ocean.
"I was able to hook up with a DJ in the UK and I e-mailed him an mp3 of one of my tracks and he's spinning it in the clubs right now.” “And how did he find you? Through MySpace?” “Through MySpace. He found me, and said 'I like the music, please send an mp3,' and I said, 'OK,' so he gave me his off-MySpace e-mail and I e-mailed it to him."
In addition to The WES Group, Will plays in a band called Miles Long. Its lead singer is Malcolm Jamal Warner, an actor and musician.
Malcolm learned about MySpace from a 14-year-old relative who came for a visit -- and spent a lot of time visiting the site.
"I was like, 'Dude, what are you doing? What is this MySpace? Get off my computer.' And sure enough a bunch of artists were telling me how MySpace is a great networking tool for artists. A great promotional vehicle to get your stuff heard, and that's what impressed me most about MySpace “
Millions of new users each week are heeding the call of these sites -- showing that it is possible to meet, work, explore, connect and reconnect, while sitting alone in front of a computer monitor.
Suzanne Presto, VOA news.
¤注解¤:
1. collegiate adj. 学院的
2. periodical n. 期刊, 杂志
3. phenomenon n. 现象
4. vehicle n. 媒介物, 传达手段