Myspace was the first social network to emerge with over 230,000 active users per day, and was created in 2003 by two men named Chris DeWolf and Tom Anderson. The two founders were members of another social networking site (friendster.com) and the success that this website gained only fueled their ideas for their own creation. By 2006 the user ratings moved from 2 million to a whopping 80 million; a feat both men had never thought possible. Today, Myspace has grown to over 117 million users, and has become the center for many online businesses, job sources, celebrity publications and more.

Facebook, originally named “thefacebook”, was invented by a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg, who was financially aided by a colleague named Eduardo Saverin. The success of this website was based on student popularity, where it spread from Harvard to Stanford and Yale. While this site was developed one year after Myspace, whatever led to its success now is its safer community. Both Myspace and Facebook are international, but what makes Myspace more prosperous is that it’s an open site, which means that anybody has the ability to join, whereas in Facebook a user must be affiliated with any of the 30,000+ schools to have an account.

Twitter was developed in 2006 by Dom Sagolla and is aimed specifically towards status updates containing 140 or fewer characters. Many artists and celebrities have an account, and fans are able to receive updates of their favorites through various ways like texting, iPhone or mobile applications, and the good ol’ internet. While Twitter manages fairly on its own, most of its success is due to its integration with Myspace and Facebook which, as we’ve already discussed, grosses over 100+ million users.
Youtube was created only two years ago by three men named Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. The three were employees of Paypal and found that there was an opening for a website based on uploading and sharing videos. These men jumped on the opportunity and created what is now the fourth most visited website in the world. What makes YouTube so advantageous is that it’s different from every other social network. While its main point is to share videos throughout the country, many users, comedians and artists can find this site extremely beneficial.

With the creation of these websites, children and adults have found many ways to relieve themselves of boredom. By signing into any of the four, they are now able to interact with users that share mutual interests. While this may all seem like a perfect getaway, the repercussions of having a social networking profile is something that is severely hurting society, primarily with teenagers. Studies show that 85% of the people in the 13-23 age range use a social network daily. This news may not come to you as a surprise, after all, who so chooses to have one may do as they please. However, studies in the Cosumnes River Sacramento, California College show that students who log onto these websites are heavily distracted and are either in danger of, or are, failing classes. These websites have many things to offer, but I can assure you a failing grade is not one of them. While I fully understand how exhilarating these websites may be, might I remind you that their sole purpose is to entertain those who have enough time to squander. Truthfully, there is no other cure for this issue than to simply spend less time online, but many students are less willing to do so mainly because these sites have become a part of their daily lives. I believe that this dispute is highly internal, and while typing in an email and password only takes a few seconds to reach the state of pure bliss, it takes less than a second to realize that these networks are no longer a form of entertainment, but a detriment to a future that is seemingly moving farther away.

Here are a few helpful links
Social Networking Causes Distraction
The History of Myspace
The History of Facebook
The History of Twitter
The History of Youtube