Can we make true friends on social networking websites

Internet has a marvelous utility which connects people to share values and vision no matter where they live, what language they speak and whether they are sociable or not. As some social-networking sites provide an equal shared space where people can communicate with each other speaking out freely, individuals have new ways to meet more friends. In the materialistic age, we can see reality and hypocrisy everywhere so many people go into the Internet world to find themselves and true friends. However, such a virtual world hides many false aspects and everything looks so nice. So people can escape from the real life and be addicted to it. Before being heavily hurt, people are extremely comfortable with all the information and emotion in virtual community since they cannot use their senses as effective as in the real world. After their happiness is smashed, they feel great contrasts and make a common conclusion：we cannot make loyal and sincere friends on the Internet.

It is of course not completely correct but we need to know that to find a true friend on the Internet is hard. On the one hand, the information a person provides cannot easily be judged true or false and on the other hand, net friends’ psychological state can be easily hidden without face-to-face communication. So to get or give loyal and sincere information is not easy.

Though we can see the personal profile of individuals on social networking sites we cannot confirm facticity and a most common thing is that many people use a nick name on the Internet, which may be provides them a sense of individuality, but actually provides them feelings of security. That is to say, we can have a mask when facing to strange friend on networks. So saying something more than fact becomes a way to get satisfaction without supervision. If people do not need to pay for telling lie and can obtain a lot value, then social networks can be full of false information, and even be a guilty tool.

In the aspect of psychology, as the social-networking site is a virtual space which hides people’s identities and provides free communication environment, individuals can easily hold a skeptical and cheating psychology. Now people are familiar with the Internet and they have realized the uncertainty of the information without seeing and touching. So people suspect each other and are afraid to tell personal true information. And at the same time people would like to create information according to their imagination. They can be the role they want on the Internet. What is more, the social-networking site is more a space of leisure and recreation than a place to get information and contacts. Thereby, many people prefer playing games of loving and friendship rather than strengthening interpersonal relationship.

Additionally, making and communicating with a new friend by Internet is convenient and efficient that people’s communication scopes are quickly magnified and their minds are scattered on too many different persons and contents. Actually, it is the way of communication which decides that we sometimes are impossible to make a loyal and sincere friend. Because we need time to stay with only one or two friends for some time or more to know more about each other building common interests, manners or values.

Even though the social-networking world is very complex, we have to acknowledge that it is a very useful tool to know others making our friend-circle rich and colorful. It contains real and false information but both of them make sense. We can get useful things from others such as happiness, relaxation and some knowledge and information. Some information may not be true but it is not harmful we just need to keep alert to something which may mislead and hurt us because of some unethical and lawless person.

If we just use social-networking sites for fun, then we can meet many friends having common topics. If someone really wants to make a loyal and sincere friend in networks, he can try. We have seen that many friends in our real life are first met on Internet, even in the case of some couples. True friendship is not dependent on money, identity, status and utilitarianism. From this point of view, social networks have their advantages to become the bond of friendship since they are different from our material world. Many people can find true friends who can have an ideological and spiritual resonance with them.

In conclusion, a social-networking site is a multifunctional and convenient communication tool which may confuse people sometimes but use it or not and how to use it correctly are decided by the user. We can enhance its advantages and avoid its disadvantages to help us make loyal and sincere friends.