Social Networking

          My first encounter with a social network site was Sconex back in high school. If I remember correctly the site was built for high school communities or networks, similar to how Facebook was first built for college networks. Looking back at the interface and the capabilities of Sconex, it did not come close to the application and features we have in today's SNS. And it definitely did not have the cultural impact and social influence we have with today's SNS.
          What really stood out to me in the article was how Boyd described 'Friends' on SNS. She states, "Friends can be misleading, because the connection does not necessarily mean friendship in the everyday vernacular sense, and the reasons people connect are varied." I completely agree. Without a doubt I can say that not everyone on my friend's list are actual "friends". Some are first-time acquaintances that I've only met once, some are simply friends of friends who I was introduced to, and some are people I meet at a professional level and of course the rest are close friends who I frequently go out with or share conversations with. There are times when I add people on Facebook just for the sake of adding more friends to my list. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that.
          Lastly, another point that is constantly in the back of all our minds is privacy concerns on SNS. Facebook and other SNS are constantly updating and reevaluating their privacy policies to meet the needs of the users. Their goal is to ultimately protect user's information and to give users the control to control their own content. In addition, an interesting question that Boyd brings up is, "do police officers have the right to access content posted to Facebook without a warrant? And as Boyd responds, "the legality of this hinges on user's expectation of privacy and whether or not Facebook profiles are considered public or private. I would think that it is okay for police officers to do that because it seems like they have been doing that since Facebook became popular. I don't think there is a definite answer to that. And that it ultimately comes down to Facebook and other SNS to decide.