oh, another one?

If someone were to write a biography about me right this minute and began working backwards from the present day only to get board after two weeks worth of material, the book would be titled "Farid Medleg: Social Glutton." Not for any excess in partying, texting or phone calls, but simply because every second thing I do seems to be tied to some social network. Some would say, "duh, asshole, half the world is on Facebook or Twitter pretty much the entire day."

But that's not it (granted, I don't so much "sign on" to Facebook as I leave it open so that my 15-minute wall-check is that much easier).... I just feel like in an age dominated by a select few social networks, I seem bombarded with new ones every day. I guess I'm not helping my case; I've watched The Social Network four times in two months, I'm reading a book about Facebook (with one about Google waiting on the shelf), I have a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a Google+ account, and most recently a Geekli.st account. The worst part? I feel like each has their purpose, and yet the only one I use with any real consistency is Facebook.
So what gives?
What's the purpose of a social network if you have four of them?

Well, upon not-so-close inspection, I've come to quickly realize it's because they're all awesome. Well, the ones that get popular anyway. And not awesome in the a-lightsaber-can-cut-through-anything kind of way, but awesome in that genuinely chest thumping, somewhat awe inspiring kind of way. Now before anyone eye-rolls so much they can see their brain, I ask you this: how often does something come around that so profoundly aligns so many millions of people at the same time. Aside form social networks, I challenge you to find more than 5 things created in the last century that can get a billion people to do the same thing within 24 hours. I'm having difficulties.

And the best part, I think save a few Silicon Valley denizens, none of us know exactly what social networks are capable of. Sure they can do so much now; message, comment, post pictures/videos/websites, program, play games, sign onto Xbox, even online shop. But I can't help but think that's just the beginning. When PCs hit the market, did you expect to be able to play interactive games with people all around the world? When you got your first email account way back when, did you think that a company called Google would create Gmail where you could send files bigger than your entire hard drive at the time? When you got your first cell phone, did you think one day you'd be able to surf the internet simply by touching the glass surface of a telephone? When you first learned about the internet, did you think one day you'd be able to do groceries, shop for clothes, and find a husband or wife using it? To this question and the ones before, I say "no". I don't even think Mark Zuckerberg totally conceived of what Facebook is doing today when he launched it seven years ago.

So to all the new social networks I say "Welcome. If you're not useful now it's only a matter of time before someone makes you useful."

-Montreal Gator