It was only four years ago that I first read about social networking Web sites. The ones I was reading about operated on a trendy, cliquish model where you got points for associating with different people, and the goal was to tally up the points, some goofy premise like that.

Then came MySpace. MySpace was the Socialist of social networking sites, where there was no prize in associating with other people, just the joy of each other's virtual presence. Though it was soon referenced in every TV report and magazine article you read, it sounded childish to me. Make "friends" with people you don't even know? How lonely or desperate to appear popular could you possibly be?

Pedophiles must've thought it sounded childish, also, because soon every story you heard about MySpace was about a 47 year old man luring a 15 year old boy for butt sex.

When MySpace opened their musical branch, though, I decided it was time to get on the bandwagon. I set up a little site for my songs (which is still clandestine because I don't want anyone to see it until my tunes have some satisfactory vocals, which I've begun to think will never happen).

Later I set up a page for myself, thinking maybe it would be a good way to network after all. So I got the page up, added a guy from the Van Halen message board...and that was really about it. As I originally thought, MySpace just looked like a chance to create an FBI file on yourself for anyone with a computer to access. As a commenter on the USA Today Web site so eloquently put it, "Now with just a couple of clicks, anyone can know what you wore to the office Halloween party, what your turn ons and turn offs are, and how you felt about it when your dog got hit by a car in the 7th grade. Way to go, NSA!"

Furthermore, MySpace is a gallery of the public's bad taste. 99% of the MySpace pages I've seen look like the computer equivalent of lawn windmills. People go to a cut-and-paste design site and throw anything on there, not caring if their writing is unreadable because their font color is the same as the background color, or if their images are so huge they throw the balance of the entire page out of whack. Also, a lot of those "pimp my MySpace" sites carry spyware and viruses.

So then the Virginia Tech shootings happened, and the students were reported to be getting updated via Facebook. What the hell was Facebook? Some B-grade MySpace imitation? I checked it out, and it looked aesthetically boring as hell and non-customizable. Pfft. But I kept hearing more and more about it. Eventually Scott's MySpace page said, "Scott is enjoying the user experience on Facebook." Then another friend said Facebook was the greatest thing he'd ever ran across. So I took a third look, and filled in my high school and college information.

Within 32 hours just about everyone I ever knew in high school had sent me a friend request. Via Facebook we can send little banter back and forth throughout the day, see photos, and it's like a reunion every day. Of course initially I thought, If I wanted to keep up with those people I would've kept up with them, right? But it turns out it is pretty fun. True, the pages can't be customized (that I know of), but the site also isn't an eyesore.

So I'm on Facebook.