Being a member of an online community for social networking is something most college students have experienced.

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are among the most popular online communities. Texting has caught on to younger generations and even XBOX Live, now compatible with Facebook, has gained recognition as a way to communicate with its gamers and friends around the world.

Facebook, an online community favored among college students, has millions of current members with new members joining by the thousands daily. "I use it mostly to just BS and joke around with all my friends," said Tanner Butkay, a student at Palo Alto.

Applications, newsfeeds, status updates and friends all keep Biomedical Engineer Major David Tagawa coming back. "I have a Facebook and a MySpace, but I just prefer Facebook," said Tagawa who has been attending Palo Alto for two years.

With the many users on Facebook, finding and keeping in touch with people has never been easier.

"I found some friends I used to live with in Montana. That was pretty cool," said Butkay. He also added, "I don’t have any friends that I don’t know personally. I don’t just add people I probably will never talk to, you know."

Privacy can be an issue for some users, so privacy settings may be applied in general or specific ways to any account.

MySpace, an online community like Facebook, provides users the ability to customize the look and music that appears when viewing their profile. MySpace adds a bit more glam than other social networking sites may offer.

Palo Alto student Evelyn Villareal disagrees. She said, "I used to have a Facebook account, but seeing all the status updates was too much. I knew I would want to go through and read all of them and just waste my time, so I just deleted it."

Social networking site Twitter allows users to post "tweets," similar to status updates, but tweets contain a bit more useful information in 140 characters or less.

Celebrities are among the most followed people, with some having as many as four million followers.

Believe it or not, as of Nov. 24, 2009, actor Ashton Kutcher from movies such as "Dude Where’s My Car?" and "What Happens in Vegas" has a reported 4,013,502 followers.

Britney Spears and Ellen DeGeneres follow in second and third place, gaining more followers by the day.

These celebrities aren’t the only talent being followed on these online networks. MySpace has become a great way for musicians to spread music, artists to spread art, and students to spread ideas on a global scale.

With the ability for musicians to upload music, the cost of advertising songs is significantly reduced to almost nothing.

Painters, photographers or just about any kind of artist may use sites like Flickr or Photobucket to have their work accessible online. Writers can also use various sites to blog and share ideas. This information may be accessed anytime from any place.

With the feature of "tagging" photos provided on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and many other sites, being featured on the Internet is something that can happen literally minutes from when the photo is taken.

Screen shot of Britney Spears' MySpace page. Celebrities get huge online followings. Ms. Spears has 105,118 friends on MySpace alone. Photo courtesy of MySpace.com

Cell phones are the perfect example of a new kind of tool for social networking, one that takes place in the palm of your hand. With applications that can work on just about any phone, anyone can check and add updates to their Facebook, MySpace or Twitter accounts while they’re on the go. Butkay said, "Because of my iPhone, I’m connected all day, at any time."

Another thing that cell phones provide us with is text messaging. With this form of social networking at an all time high, we see fellow students and people outside of school texting just about anytime, anywhere.

"I’m texting constantly," said Communications Major Victor Manuel Gomez Jr., a freshman at Palo Alto.

Constant Partial Attention (CPA) is a byproduct of what may happen with too much media distraction. CPA is the inability to give full attention to just one thing at a time. Most people who have CPA issues constantly have their phone accessible to check for alerts.

"It totally depends on the message. If someone is texting me and I know it’s not important, I’ll ignore it. I don’t like that people have to check their cell phone every time they are alerted," said Villareal.

"I have been told by teachers to put away my phone," said Gomez. He said CPA is not an issue for him, except during work or school.

Is social networking a helpful tool to be used by students, or does it squander time that can be used for other things, like studying?

Answers vary, but the majority of students agree they use social networking when they are bored or need to take a short break from schoolwork. "I do get on and browse around if I get bored, but not for that long," said Villareal.

These sites are all free to join because of the advertisements that underwrite them. From when we get on to networking sites, our information is being tracked to direct advertisements directly toward us.

"Yeah it’s a privacy issue, but hey, it’s free!" said Gomez.

Once content is posted on either video or networking sites, it is near impossible to take them off the Internet, so it is important for users to think about what they post.

Tweets posted in haste or videos or pictures of underage drinking can ruin students’ future careers. Human Resources Departments usually screen the Web for potential hires. Students must be as aware as they can when posting anything to the Internet.

Social networks are a direct result of the Internet bringing people together.

With many different sites to choose from, watching videos, writing a tweet, changing a MySpace profile, updating Facebook or just playing some video games may all be enjoyed while networking online.

With social networking more popular than ever, students may communicate and stay connected with the most up-to-date technology and information on computers or mobile devices. There are things to be aware of, but communicating has never been easier and more enjoyable.