That’s quite interesting. But I think it is totally stupid to use social networking sites for meeting your friends, at least if your friends still live in your area. Why don’t you meet them in real life?
Don’t spend so much time in front of your computer. Enjoy the real life!

Michael, you make a good point. However, I’m not sure that teens are replacing face-to-face contact with social networking sites, but augmenting it. They’re simply in contact 24 hours a day, and instead of using a phone they’re using a web site.

most teens use the “networking” sites to hang out with the friends they already have.

While that is technically correct, it does imply that they *don’t* use it for other things like making new friends. The data however, says that almost half the users do exactly that. 49% is a huge number of people. I, for one, use Livejournal to do my “social networking”. At first, I didn’t know a lot of people, then very quickly, I became friends with several of them. I’ve actually reached a critical point where adding and making new friends would be too much, and I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. I am not so sure the research delves into such possibilities. (It falls into both “making new friends, *and* keeping in touch with friends I already have and/or “rarely see in person’.

I don’t think people go into the social networking sites specifically looking for new friends without an existing infrastructure already using that site. New friends just kinda “happen” (friends of friends).

Good point, CM. Thanks for adding that. The study does strongly suggest that there is a certain serendipity of new friends happening.

Good Point. Very usefull article. see you.

Hello!
This is good idea.
Greting for this.
Best regards