Social network sites; too much of a solution?

Social networking sites are growing to be more and more important. Sites like Facebook and Hyves come up with innovative ideas in order to play an important role in the lives of social network addicts. Those innovative ideas are very often an easy solution for important and/or practical problems in our daily lives. The social network sites began to offer an answer to the question: ‘what are my (old) friends doing now?’ Whereupon, for example Hyves, expanded the possibilities with showing what your own status is, showing where you exactly are in cooperation with Google Maps, paying to be a goldmember (which offers you extra possibilities) et cetera. In other words, everything to maintain and expand your (online) relationships.

But having social network sites interfering in your daily life seems to have no boundaries. Now-a-days it isn’t just to keep up with your friends and making new friends but also about practical things or even very serious questions you come up to in your daily life. The ultimate goal for those sites is that they eventually play a real important role in your life and that it is hard to live without. Hyves recently introduced the possibility to pay with your Hyves-account which means you have to put money on your account and then you can pay with your account in, for example, a bar. In the present, Hyves asks you the question whether you want to be an organ-donor or not. After answering that question the answer you have given will be shown on your profile, so everyone can see if you participate or not.

Regardless my positive opinion about the Internet as a really helpful, making-life-easier-tool, I don’t feel the need to share all my activities and thoughts on a social network site. I rather not want to show the whole world where I am every given time at the day, what I am doing, which jeans I bought and how much it cost or answering important questions like whether to be a donor or not. But then again, for the ones who really feel like sharing such information, the social network sites offer a great platform.