The Facebook and Twitter Revolution has Spawned a new Generation for whom The virtual world is The real world

By Pranav Dixit

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the explosion has happened. When Facebook, the world's most pop­ular social networking site, made it to the cover of Time magazine last month in the form of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, it was a defining moment. Already, the site ranks as the third most populous country in the world (if it can be called a country) behind India and China and estimates show that it will cross 1 billion mem­bers in 2012. That's a sixth of the world's population - and half of the 2 billion people who are connected to the Internet. Micro-blogging site Twitter currently hovers around the 190 million users mark but is taking over our lives like nothing we've seen before.

The revolution is already here. What is different this time is that it is not restricted only to the metres but to people from all over the country. We profile four power users of Facebook and Twitter in four different cities to see the world from their eyes and find out why social networking isn't just an inseparable part of their lives -it is their life. pranav.dixit@hindustantimes.com

To me, Facebook is as natural as breathing'

By the time kids of her age were just start­ing to discover the World Wide Web, Noopur Raval's parents were already try­ing to get her to log off because she spent too much time online. "I was always the cool kid with a computer when others didn't have one," says 20-year-old Raval who is currently doing her Masters in Arts and Aesthetics at JNU, New Delhi. "And the Internet totally, absolutely fascinated me."

Today, Raval states that she is a full-fledged Facebook addict, "but not in the pejorative sense that has come to be associated with that term! It's such a big part of my life that it is no longer a spe­cial activity. To me, Facebook is as good - and as natural - as breathing," she says.

 Raval has a fixed Internet routine: as soon as she switches on her computer, she has four tabs on her browser that HAVE to be permanently open: her Facebook, her Twitter, her Gmail and her Google Reader for keeping up with all her RSS feeds.

When she was doing her Bachelors, Raval used to get home from college by 4:30 pm and be on Facebook till about 12:30 at night. This was true even in the pre-Facebook days. In the middle of her Class 12 board exams, Raval lolled around on Orkut, scrapping and participating in community discussions. "My parents told me I was crazy," she says. "Thankfully, my scores weren't affected. What happened, however, was that my attention span nose-dived? I couldn't sit for ten minutes without running to the computer to check my profile."

Which begs the question: what does she do for so long on Facebook? "Stalk people's Walls," she grins.

QUOTABLE QUOTE this is my generation's mode of communication. Facebook features in three out of five conversations I have'

"I'm not really a social person and cannot make conversation with many people. However, on Facebook, there's a social feed that keeps coming to you - it's fun to see who's doing what." This isn't a drawback, she says. "Because when you're talk­ing to someone on the phone or face-to-face, you have to go through a code of formalities. Online, the conversation is utilitarian - which means I can chat like a maniac, post things like a manic and not miss real life conversation at all!"

While most Facebook users try to hide pictures VV and profile details, Raval's profile is wide open (even if you don't 'friend' her on Facebook). Wall posts, pictures, comments and even her phone number are visible for anyone to see. "In the four years that I've been using Facebook someone has used my number to send me unsolicited mes­sages only once," she says. "On the other hand, I recently got a call from an art critic in New York, asking if she could exhibit some of my pictures (also in my Facebook albums, open to public) at an exhibition." (Raval is an amateur photographer).

Most people look at social networking as a waste of time. Raval shatters this notion to bits. "It's an established way of communication and this is my generation's mode of meeting people," she says. "Facebook trickles down in three out of five con­versations I have with my peers. We're always ask­ing each other, 'Did you see that picture I posted?' 'Did you see his latest status update?' 'Doesn't her profile picture look awesome?' It has shaped the way I know people. Why, I might just end up mar­rying someone I meet on Facebook! It's like asking me 'Why do you spend so much time awake?'"

What about the distinction between the real and virtual worlds? Raval looks bewildered. "This is as real as it gets," she says.