I am on Facebook, therefore I am

Steve Webb, 42, a British member of Parliament for over ten years now, logged on to open his Facebook account. Facebook refused access telling that it had received complaints that 'he did not exist'! For a passionate advocate of online networking it came across as an ironic awakening for Webb. Within a few hours friends set up a Facebook group called "Steve Webb is real!" which attracted more than 200 users and he and others contacted people who worked at the site. A few hours later he received an apology and his profile was reactivated. Still, the time spent in the Internet's no man's land left Webb questioning his existence.

It is quite interesting and at times shocking to see how the internet has changed our lifestyles and now how it is threatening to reword our identities! The rise of social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and MySpace have opened a whole new world of existence for the surfer and Web 2.0 for businesses looking to make money. Web 2.0 is the future of the web that allows more upstream movement of data from the users rather than websites dumping information on the browser. This collaborative development of content is working well for companies. Just think about the role of wikipedia in our lives now-a-days. Infact this very blog of mine is a living example of the influence of these sites: I have put links of my Orkut and LinkedIn profiles on it. This viral buzz about social networking led companies like Microsoft to invest @250 million in Facebook and the creation of alternative words like Second Life! I was part amused part shocked to hear that Wipro has recently opened a ODC in Second Life. These networking sites have now become a treasure trove for social scientists who are looking at human behavior, choices and networking patterns.

The amount of time employees are spending on such sites have prompted companies to block these websites from office. Of course there is another set of companies who are looking to capitalize on such websites to promote their companies, products and ideas. But what comes as a concern is the way in which our identities are moving away from what we really are to what we portray ourselves to be on these places. There are many questioning the quality of 'friends' whom people add over these websites. Arey they really good old friends are just the ones who gave you smile while you were taking your dog out for a walk on a Sunday afternoon in Timbuctoo? To parody such sites a host of fun ant-networking sites have already cropped up like Enemybook, Snapster and Hatebook!

Will these places over the coming times decide what we are or rather what we should be? Will the Second Life become more important than the original one? Guess only Mark Zuckerberg and you can answer that!