Are social networks really social?

I hate the idea of blogs, I mean I can see why they are beneficial if you're looking for employment and can point people in the direction of your new blog to gloat how good you are. But I hate the fact that they can be so public, even the most innocent of admissions can in effect be read by the whole world.

So why am I writing this?

Whilst in a moment of boredom I decided to google certain people from back at home, not necessarily to find out anything interesting but just more out of curiosity. I didnt really find anything in google, but i found myself browsing Bebo one of the many social networking sights. I'm not a member there so didn't think i'd get very far but worryingly I did. I was able to get onto total strangers pages as well as the pages of people I knew. How could I not read on, what are they doing, where do they live etc. The list is endless and totally nosey of me, a blatant invasion of their space uninvited.

So then the disturbing part came when I wondered if someone who I had never met but who had caused me so much pain in the past was on there. She was.

So, did I find anything interesting or distastful? No not really! Did I want to? Possibly! Should I have the right to? No!

The point of this is, people are interested in people. We're interested in our ex's and we're interested in our ex's ex's and our ex's new other halfs! We're interested in the people we once loved and never had, we're interested in the people we love and we're even interested in people we have never met and never will.

As much as the internet is an amazing source of information and a way of keeping in touch with friends and family it is also a huge violation of privacy. Who has the right to actively seek out information on other people? I'm writing this knowing full well that anybody can read it. I could so easily rant about anything, I could make accusations and fabricate truths; I could so easily and yet so innocently endanger myself and other people by a casual slip of the fingers; whether its something personal to me or an opinion on national importance.

When you talk to your friends about other people or something personal you keep your voice down, make sure no one else can hear - when you 'talk' on the net keep your voice down, you don't know whose listening.