TL;DR: Social networks, and Facebook in particular, are changing the way that students are able to connect and extend their social web.

In a world and generation where the Internet is all around us, it has become unbelievably easy to connect with other people. Most often when people think of computer or Internet geeks, they imagine someone who has no social interaction and does not converse with a lot of people. This irony shows in the fact that the Internet, and specifically sites such as Facebook, has made social interaction and networking so prominent and an everyday part of our lives. I have had specific encounters and experience with this recently. Sites like these are changing our world and it is because of the Internet that the very definition of interacting has changed so dramatically.

This August, my entire world changed when I started my career at Allegheny College. It was a big and admittedly difficult step–but one that I knew would be beneficial in the long run with the opportunities and education that Allegheny would provide. For those that know me, you will know that I am not a very outgoing person and stay typically pretty reserved. I was worried that it would be difficult to find my place in this new environment. This is where the Internet came in and saved the day. Facebook is a social networking site that allows users to share key information about each other. You can discover people that are similar to you based off of what they like, where they are from, and who they know. You can get to know someone just by looking at their profile and it is quite remarkable how this structure allows you to easily expand your horizons and meet many new people.

Facebook is what ultimately led to me becoming much more comfortable at college and allowed me to meet people that I liked and with whom I had similar interests. By connecting with people through services such as Messenger and just by adding people as friends, Facebook is a tremendous tool, especially for college students, for networking and meeting people of all types. I joined the official and unofficial Allegheny Class of 2020 groups on Facebook and they allow me to stay connected to what everyone is doing on a regular basis. I also met people through Facebook that would ultimately lead to me joining a fraternity this semester. Coming into college, I did not know a lot about fraternities and I did not think that I would really look into it. However, joining has definitely made a huge difference to my college experience thus far, and I could not be happier that Facebook exposed me to this opportunity. Another very useful thing on Facebook is events. Events allows users to create an event and then invite their Facebook friends to attend. This has made life at college so much easier, and it is cool to see your friends and if they are going or not and who was invited.

The underlying point of all of this is that the Internet has dramatically improved our lives and how we do things. Without even realizing it, socializing has become easier and more prominent than ever before. Before the Internet, it would have been much harder for a typically shy person such as myself to get themselves out there. I am confident in stating that college life is completely different now than before the Internet–and for the better. The communication and networking opportunities that the Internet provides is something that I cannot imagine living without–and it has helped me meet some amazing people along the way.

3D Social Networking flickr photo by ccPixs.com shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license