Since 2000, the explosive development of social networks and virtual societies have been captivating people’s attention. Nowadays, about 60% of the world’s population has Internet access. This access can be at work, home, and school. Moreover, a great percentage of these people use the Internet more than eight hours per day. Uses are diverse; they can be just for work, study, entertainment, and so on. One of the latest developments in terms of Internet Applications have been social spaces such as: Facebook, MySpace (Microsoft), and Orkut (Google). These spaces allow people to build their own virtual social networks without any difference among users; they can be young, old, woman, man, Chinese, European, American, and so on. Today, people use virtual social network as a way of adaptation to the continuous changes in cultural and technological matters. As a result, there are several consequences for people and society.
Social networks support, but at the same time, truncate social and emotional development. It is common to see that Facebook’s users have hundreds of contacts in their friends list. These contacts are not only from the same country but also from different places. Moreover, people who have some emotional or social barriers in real life can overcome their fears. They can meet new people, begin emotional relationships, and even get married. Unfortunately, some of these people can do these things only behind the screen. In face to face interactions, they are completely different. In this sense, their social and emotional abilities are truncated for real world interactions.
Another important effect of social networks is the possibility to break geographical barriers and take advantage of globalization. People today use social networks not only for entertainment but also for business and politics. In fact, many politicians use such spaces as Facebook or MySpace in order to spread their message, political intentions, and captivate more adepts. Now, it is not necessary to take a bus, a car, or a plane to visit people; you can go everywhere just by clicking a button.
Most recently a new phenomenon is growing. This has derived from social networks and some video games. The phenomenon is called “Virtual Societies”, which are widely used. Examples of this kind of spaces are: Second Life, Lineage, and World of Warcraft. The main characteristic of them is that people are represented by tridimensional avatars in a world similar or completely different from the real world. There people can either build or buy houses and cars, start new businesses, and even to have a new family; in summary, to have a new life.
The phenomenon of social networks and virtual spaces is developing every day. In this sense, culture and technology evolution demand new ways of communication among people. However, these new ways could have negatives impacts in the future. The question is: what can we do to change this forecast?
