I am online…hear me roar.

There is no denying how the World Wide Web opened up the access to instant communication, especially in terms of a global marketplace. Once again, the Internet is leading the innovative way with the fairly recent boom of social networking sites. Like locusts, these things have descended on the Web and devoured the productivity of the working class worldwide. Social networking sites appeal to young and old because they run the gamut from business communities to online dating, gothic industry to virtual pet sitting.Although social networking sites first appeared online in 1995 with Classmates.com, most notably they exploded in popularity with the 2002 introduction of Friendster. One short year later came the emergence of MySpace, who by 2005 was receiving more clicks than Google.Just look at the new catch-phrases coming out of the social networking phenomenon. “MySpace me” has evolved into a common farewell term and can be overheard at campus coffee houses and downtown bars countrywide.

Narcissists everywhere, unite!

Email has been available to the public since 1993, and instant messenger has been patented since 2002. So why are social networking sites suddenly such a giant of mass communication?

Because social networking sites allow the layperson to exist on the Web.

By permitting anybody to stake a claim on property in the online universe, these sites are suddenly taking the power from tech geeks and Microsoft employees and putting it into the hands of any 15-year old with rudimentary keyboarding skills.

Most social networking sites also allow full creative license. The keys have never gotten more use! Your little brother can employ basic Web design to create brilliant backgrounds, table borders, and revolving slideshows to share with his 2,500 online friends. He is now an html god, and his online kingdom bows down every time his profile changes.

Can’t beat ‘em? Join ‘em.

Companies like Photobucket and Flickr have reaped the benefits of these social networking sites by providing html and URL encoding with every picture. Simply browse, upload, copy and paste to instantly share your summer vacation pictures with millions of people.

MySpace currently boasts over 100 million active users. Recently, Facebook opened its doors to those without .edu addresses (normally associated with active student e-mail accounts). Music bands and various businesses from every sector have already gotten on board. Why haven’t you?

This is the exact question companies everywhere are asking themselves. One hundred million users can’t be wrong…right? Following in Rupert Murdoch’s very large footsteps, many businesses are jumping on the social networking train hoping it will eventually chug them into higher profitability. However, considering most of the existing social networking sites are not highly profitable themselves, it will be interesting to see just how much ground companies can cover on this social networking ride.