Sticky Wicket

I think there are three big reasons that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are such "sticky" Web sites (or, as I like to say, such "timesucks").

The primary reason these sites take up so much time is that they are constantly changing. Another site I visit often is my hometown newspaper, but I know that it will update once a day unless something really exceptional happens, so...I check it once a day. On the other hand, something new is posted on Facebook every second. Every time you go back to the site, there will be something new to look at, you can count on it.

The second reason is the sheer number of links and information on a site like Facebook. You go online, check your profile, and the next thing you know, through a series of links you've followed through from your home page, you're looking at pictures of people you went to high school with but haven't spoken to in ten years and an hour of your life is gone. There's just so much to get sucked into.

Finally, I think people get sucked into social networking sites is the voyeuristic aspect of them. You just have to know what Jane ate for lunch or where Jim is traveling on business this week. It's kind of weird, when you think about it, how much blogs and social networking sites and the like have brought the mundane details of our lives out into the limelight and somehow people actually want to know those details.