Does anyone have experience with one or all of these "social networks"?

I maintain a My Space, which I have had for sometime. I am accustomed to it's layout. The kids who frequent this site are actually fun. I have made many of friends with them. Some are now 18 and seek my advice and wisdom regarding their adult decisions.

Recently I have had "invites" from people, and some parties unknown who have invited me to their Plaxo and LinkEdit. I have joined just to spare me from the constant barrage of emails inviting me to be their "friend"!

How important are these sites..business and personal? I enjoy My Space and as I have said, I have made many friends including lots of kids. What has been your experience, good and bad?

Do they, maybe, take the place of sororities and fraternities--a way of sending out personal 'needs' to a life-line of similar brothers or sisters for jobs. contacts etc. If you are a successful performer--or a performing artist, CG--you should have your own web page in which to advertise yourself.

I tend to use Fool Moon as a personal blog sometimes. As for social networking sites like those mentioned, they're just not my thing.

I believe they, and forums like FM, appeal to people because we are social creatures. Pack animals. It can be a very good thing to bounce ideas off of other people. We can find out what experiences they have had with what we are about to try or are doing right now.

I have had a Myspace page for a while now. In general it is a great place to network however; you will get a lot of kids that aren't as nice as the ones you are friends with. Personally I accept friendship from the kids which is one of the great things I enjoy about Myspace, you are able to accept or decline if as you please.

There are a lot of people who do network there and use it as just a place to advertise. Even porn sites register accounts and subtlety make their way through the masses of people asking for friendship. Those who accept are usually boggled down with spam in the inbox and comment area. There are also a lot of hackers in the Myspace system. They lead you to links outside the system and onto some blank page then require you to log back into your page before you gain access then they use your account to pass their spam. I've been hacked a couple times before I realized it was more my error than theirs. I needed to pay more attention.

I've had many good experiences on Myspace. I enjoy the time I spend there however with the good comes the bad. But I believe that you'll find that anywhere you go.

As someone who has been interacting socially on various websites for the past 20 years, I stay as far away from MySpace, etc. as possible.

Relationships on the computer are not the same as relationships in the analogue world.

Some will say that friends made on the computer are better because we get to know the people for who they are, not what they look like.

But physical appearance IS important. You would be friends with, but probably wouldn't date, a really smart, witty person who looked like Quasimodo.

Computer relationships work about one or two percent of the time when the people meet in real life, because someone has lied, or misstated something, or someone's imagination has put things on the other party that don't exist, there is almost always some kind of disappointed hope, whether it is romantic or for friendship.

In theory, I ahould be all in favor of this kind of social interaction because it's how Helice and I met...in a chat room. But for every one of me, there are a hundred people doomed to disappointment, heartbreak, or being conned out of the money for a plane ticket.

So my best advice to anyone who has, or hopes to have, a computer relationship is the same advice I'd give to someone who told me they were going to walk through downtown East St. Louis at night...be aware of your surroundings at all times.

And, until proven wrong, follow the advice of my friend Hyman Hayden, of the Paranoia Files, who used to say "trust no one".

I like Facebook because I've been able to connect with quite a few of my cousins who I would not normally be in contact with due to our busy lifestyles. They often upload photos of vacations and let all of us relations know when someone is ill or there's an upcoming family event. Several of my nieces and nephews are also in this site, and I love seeing photos of their lives, accomplishments, and especially of their children. You can maintain privacy in there because you have to authorize someone to access your information, and most people do not allow it unless they know the person.

There are also several groups for special causes in there. The one I joined was in memory of a friend who's daughter committed suicide in April. The latest update is that there were enough signatures to get the attention of US senators, and just a few weeks ago, Pres. Bush signed a new bill for colleges and universities, allowing parents access to their child's records if there is a medical issue.

So you see, these sites are not all about porn, spam, or pedophiles.

I have a My Space for business reasons...just like in the analogue world I have to interact in a positive way with those I may or may not like... some great people, not so great people and some really weird people that creep me out... I have managed to to keep this all in "check". On My Space, I interact mostly with teens I do not know in the physical world. I have another private account for close friends and relatives I know. This is a great asset, as we can all easily post photos, videos...etc to each other.

Recently I have been invited to Linkit, Plaxo and Tagged. Not knowing what Plaxo or Tagged were, I signed up believing I was adding my information to a friends address book??? lol! I answered "yes" to Tagged sign up request to invite my own friends... 1500 email addresses later, I found out Tagged invited my entire gmail account...not my address book, but I just invited anyone who I had ever emailed using my gmail account to Tagged. Two things happened, several friends reminded me they did not have to be Tagged to be my friend...and MOST of my good friends who I know in the analogue world joined... Now I have them all in one spot. It is sort of delightful. Plaxo and Tagged are more adult business oriented. Although I have not generated much business on them...Linkedit is another one... Classmates is another. I joined Classmates several years ago at the request of a friend... I am not someone who waxes nostalgia for my former high school days, but I have really enjoyed reconnecting with many "sistas" who I shared many child hood experiences with. In fact we have a get together every so often called The girls of 72.

Maybe it's because I am married, but I have missed the flirting and dating being a member of these sites provides others...

That's true in most cases, but there are some who are quick to judge and stigmatize others. Its like your children - they act differently at home than they do at school. It can be the same with people online - you may envision them in one way but in reality, they are totally different.

I have a MySpace and tagged, but it's partly to keep up with the many relatives who post pictures of all the little ones that I can't be with because of being so far away. The tagged was kind of by accident, but I maintain it for a couple of children that are in the family that keep in close contact that way.

My primary reason for any of it was to keep up with what my children are doing online. They know it's me, but I jump right into their chats and have at times had to turn the conversation when I saw or read things that I didn't feel comfortable with strangers talking to my kids about. No, we don't let anyone in the chats know that "MOM" is in the room, but my kids find that they're more comfortable with my experience being in the room with them.