Cyber Friendship

In Danah Boyd's article, Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites, the author begins discussion with the question "Are you my friends? Yes or No?" and uses it as a tool to argue that these choices are the background of social networking sites. This rise of social media as a major source of interaction for teens has resulted in a new definition of friendship. The dictionary has classically defined friendship as a relationship between two people who hold mutual affection for each. However in the sense of social media friendship has a much more quantitative definition: Two people who know each other well enough that they allow each other access to view one's profile. While this definition is much easier to gauge it however does not truly define friendship. In fact at times, a friend online may be a complete stranger in real life. Additionally the advent of Social Media communication has resulted in an inability of personal communication. While before friendship was created in the real world and then grown in cyberspace, now many times the opposite is true. In some situations friendships only exist online. While on the surface this may seem harmless, it decrease ones interpersonal communication skills outside of the cyber world. If this problem is not resolved individuals will face numerous obstacles when attempting to network or interview when they enter the job market.