Social networking sites are quickly becoming the most popular type of website on the web. The most popular of these websites, Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter, are reaching the top of the charts of the most visited sites on the Internet. Details from Alexa.com, a company that publishes web traffic reports, collected around May 2008 by Carter, author of ¬¬Phi Delta Kappan, reveal that Myspace.com is the sixth most popular website. (quoted in Carter) While the throne of the most popular social network is now Facebook (quoted in “Facebook Dethrones Myspace”), social networking sites are still among the most visited sites on the World Wide Web. Students will need to evaluate the benefits and the disadvantages of using social networking technologies and evaluate them independently. This document will help students evaluate different types of social networking sites and help them decide if they want to use it. Traditional social networking sites include Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. Millions of people use these sites every day, and many people spend hours online on them, chatting with friends, sharing photos, playing games, etc. Carter, author of Phi Delta Kappan, notes that Myspace had over 200 million accounts as of December 2007. (quoted in Carter) With the growing popularity of social networking technologies, this number has certainly grown in the last 2 years. Carter also notes that social networks are becoming increasingly popular among the “millennial generation” (those born between 1982 and 2002), i.e., teenagers and young adults. So more and more students are becoming members of these sites. This can be beneficial or worsen their studies, depending on how they use it or how much time they spend...... middle of the document ...... March 2, 2010.Maggie Thompson. “Punishing students for their activities on websites is inappropriate.” At issue: Should social networking sites be banned? Ed. Spejo Romano. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Network. February 27, 2010. Marklein, Mary B. “Connected in Two-Year Schools.” Gannett News Service November 15, 2009 U.S. National Newspapers, ProQuest. Network. February 13, 2010.Messner, Kate. “Happy to tweet to you.” School Library Journal 55.12 (2009): 44. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Network. February 27, 2010.Smith, Ashley. "Facebook is not yet a determining factor: schools in the area do not take into consideration the pages of potential students." News-Sentinel, The (Fort Wayne, IN) February 12, 2010: Newspaper source. EBSCO. Network. March 2, 2010."Web 2.0 is key to collaboration and agility, says United Planet." M2PressWIRE (2010): Newspaper source. EBSCO. Network. February 13. 2010.