2010: A MySpace Odyssey

For more than ten years social networking sites have been slowly evolving and spreading throughout modern society. What began in the dark corners of the internet as small cloisters of cyber-communities has grown into an industry with memberships projected in the hundreds of millions. These sites have also grown exponentially in popularity in part because of their ability to connect people with each other. Within all social networking sites there is a common theme of connecting people with others, whether they are old friends or new friends, whether they live 5 miles apart or 5,000 miles apart. But as pervasive as this technology is there is the one question that has yet to be answered, what is the price of admission? How is it that a provider such as Facebook can offer its services free of charge to over 400 million people? More importantly, are the users being charged by non-monetary means? The purpose of this series of blogs is to address, but not necessarily answer, the question of whether users should trust social networking sites with their personal information. The intent of these critiques is not appear paranoid and assume that there is anything insidious behind these sites, but to evaluate whether the potential social benefits outweigh the potential personal costs. To indulge an odd metaphor, in the book Pinocchio, would Pinocchio have gone on his “free” trip to Pleasure Island had he know the true price?