In the wide world of Internet, social networking has carved its niche and is probably the most popular niche. There are no age group barriers in social networking although the maximum people using it are teenagers. Social networking has had a paradigm shift over the last few years as it evolved from being just a platform for friendship to something much more meaningful, bigger and more commercial. For example: MySpace. MySpace is one of the leading social networking sites that offer communities, forum, email facility, weblog space and enhances uploading of videos. This is one place where you will find ordinary men and women getting to know about some of the top bands in the music circuit. It has also become a lunch pad for new bands on the block and talented artists.

According to a research and survey conducted by comScore, it was found that MySpace received visitors in excess of 114 million from across the globe with the minimum age being 15 and maximum being 80 in June 2007. This caused a 72% increase in their visibility and internet traffic. Similarly, Facebook is a social networking site that connects people saw an increase in traffic in 2007 and recorded 52.2 million visitors. Their overall growth in 2007 jumped by 270% and is expected to increase further.

The Personality Types

There are different types of people who visit social networking websites and placing them in one particular category will be a next to impossible exercise. There are many people and companies who have tried to define the types of social networkers based on their habits, their behaviors, the age-group, need etc. In fact, recently a research was conducted publicly in the UK and the result concluded that there are 5 basic types of social networkers and they are:
• Enthusiasts
• Self-confessors
• Philosophers
• Critics
• Cynical clowns

According to the study, the self confessors are the ones who believe in over-exaggeration of their flaws. It is like you have a particular flaw and you confess having it, which normally other people won't do. In such a case, you will be a self confessor social networker. Other social networkers treat a self confessor as someone who is utterly human and at the same time loveable too. Cynical clowns on the other hand are those who always have this urge to comment on different social issues in the most outrageous manner. Cynical clowns are looked as those who like to shock other people and this is just another way of covering their own limitations.

Enthusiasts are those who are never short of energy and are enthusiastic about everything or one particular hobby they have. For example: There are people who can talk about a lot of things but when you talk to a photographer about photography, they will become very enthusiastic and will talk for hours. That is an enthusiast. Everyone tries to be a philosopher but very few make the grade. A true philosopher will never see things from the practical point of view and will have a philosophical way of looking at everything whether it is watching a movie or talking about the many colors of life. Critics are the last category of social networker and they are normally critical about most of the things and always see everything from a different perspective or point of view than the ordinary.