social networking

per wikipedia's definition, "facebook is a social networking website".

we are clearly in the "web 2.0 era" of the 21st century. the concept of "online community" has truly been taken to another level. and where was i when this started?? my parents have even heard about this thing!!

it absolutley amazes me how a sophomore (2nd year) KID had the technical brains and ingenious concept to build "community". is this how the future generations will keep in touch? long are the days of in-person visits and phone calls ... maybe email is becoming obselete as well?!

what makes this thing 'addictive'? why do people feel more comfortable sharing personal information online than sharing it in-person? how will this medium change the way we function and interact with friends & colleagues? do people feel more connected, more heard, more loved, more accepted through social networking websites (or as MZ puts it himself, "a directory that is reinforcing a physical community")? how will this change corporations, organizations, and churches?

will the blurred lines of online community and physical community reduce lonliness and longings of the human heart? will songs like the one below become irrelavent?

===
"Does Anybody Hear Her" [Casting Crowns, 2005]

She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon's ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She's another two years older
And she's three more steps behind

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even knows she's going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away

If judgement looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can't see past her scarlet letter
And we never even met her

He is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
===

and after all these musings, i can be found on facebook.