This and That...

There was a report a few days ago that social networking sites are doing better than never before. Millions more have joined this past year, it said, and that people tend to spend a lot of time online connecting with people. I would have dismissed the report like I dismiss many others. However, I am one of those people who have signed up on a couple of those sites, and I must admit, I am having a whale of a time.

These networking sites give you an amazing opportunity to get to know people. One mostly has accounts on these sites where one can catch up with classmates, colleagues, and long lost cousins and friends. There are also other groups where you don't really know anybody and you get to know them as you start visiting frequently. In time, you kind of forget that these are virtual friends. Just like everywhere else, you meet all kinds of people. Some very fake and some so genuine, it makes you believe that good people still exist.

I got on one such site purely by accident. I happened to see a community on a friend's page and visited the community profile. I joined it, and slowly, I got a feel of things, and soon I was like a fish to water. That was because the communities, a nice network of them, were related to music. I have always been a fan of music, and have never quite found people who shared the same interest, since I got out of school. I know people who love music, but never had found those who could tell what song it was by listening to the prelude or interlude music. If I had a query about a certain movie or a certain situation, people would look at me as if I were nuts. Lyrics could not be found till you got your hands on the tape/ CD of the song and sometimes, a particularly vague song never became clear for months and years.

Suddenly, all that had changed. As I found dozens of people 'playing' in these communities, I also found dozens of long lost beloved songs. They had just been left behind somewhere, and here they were, catching up with you. Google of course, had a large part to play in getting songs, but that it could be done was evident after joining here. In a few weeks, I had made some friends. I suddenly had lots to do, and I have had some of the most enjoyable times that were so entertaining, it was almost impossible to believe that all I was actually doing was sitting in front of a computer, all by myself. It was so exciting meeting people and finding that so many people were as crazy as I was about music, and they did not think I was nuts... because they were nuts too! :)

It was here that I found out how music collections can be stored, categorized, and enjoyed without burning them on CDs, which were a rage until not very long ago. It was here I got songs that I had considered permanently lost to time. It was also here that I realized that there were tons of people who were much more knowledgeable than I can ever dream of being. That knowledge that is so easily shared here and knows no end.

The report had a skeptical side, when they reported that people are so lost in the virtual world, they do not take care of the real world around them. I feel lucky to have some very genuine 'real' friends and some equally genuine 'virtual' friends as well. I am so glad I found this little world.