Men’s Health published a study earlier this month of social networking across major American cities.
The study was conducted by calculating the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users per capita followed by overall Twitter usage. The magazine also looked at traffic generated by websites such as MySpace, Friendster, Reddit and Digg. Finally, the study factored in the percentage of households that frequently participate in chat rooms and blogs.
After completing the study, Men’s Health created a list of 100 cities, each graded anywhere from A+ to F.
The No. 1 city was Washington, D.C., which received an A+. The No. 100 city was El Paso, Texas, which received a failing grade.
Baton Rouge and New Orleans also found their way into the list.
New Orleans received quite a low grade — D+.
Though low, New Orleans’ grade seems reasonable considering it isn’t much of a college town.
However, Baton Rouge’s grade was much more surprising.
Our overcrowded college town was awarded a C-.
Considering how many people I see on Facebook and Twitter during class, I found the low grade quite shocking.
But it got me thinking — are such low social networking scores for our state a good or bad thing?
My first impulse is to say it’s bad.
It’s no secret Facebook and Twitter take up far too much of students’ time and allows people to collect information on other people that should normally be kept private. There is also no doubt social networking sites distract students in class.
Take, for example, the people you see in auditorium classes who “Facebook stalk” their friends’ pictures from Thursday night at Reggie’s Bar in Tigerland. These people are clearly wasting away their lives, focusing on learning only gossip-worthy information when they could be learning intellectual information. It also distracts the people sitting behind them.
Let’s think of what could be more productive than “Facebook stalking:” reading a book, watching a movie, exercising, reading a newspaper, having a face-to-face conversation with someone, paying attention in class and — God forbid — studying.
While social networking can be a huge waste of college students’ time and intelligence, greater networking may wind up being a positive move for the state.
It’s impossible to question the fact that social networking almost totally dominates our Internet usage.
As a matter of fact, Facebook, YouTube, Blogspot and Twitter are all currently ranked in the top 10 most visited websites by MostPopularWebsites.net.
With communication that’s pretty much in real-time, there’s no doubt these media will continue to grow. And this type of mass communication can prove beneficial, especially during crises.
One example of social networking sites aiding in the exchange of information was during the 2008 China earthquake. Twitter was the first site to publish news of the quake, spreading information around the world.
It also allowed people to publish moment-to-moment updates about what happened during the ordeal.
I personally experienced the benefits of social networking during Hurricane Katrina. I couldn’t make calls to friends and family because cell towers were down in New Orleans. Though my cellphone failed, the Internet didn’t, and MySpace and AOL Instant Messenger allowed me to keep in touch with friends when I evacuated to Lafayette.
Imagine if another Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. People in the city could easily benefit from being able to stay connected to people with newer social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Overall, New Orleans and Baton Rouge’s low social-networking grades may be both good and bad.
It could be a good thing because our state may be focused on other things rather than social networking — things that may be more important.
And it could also be a bad thing, as the low grades show our state may not be embracing this new communication medium as it should.
In the end, we need to support the rise of social media, but also learn to use it in moderation.
 
Chris Grillot is a 19-year-old English and mass communication sophomore from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_cgrillot.
 
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Contact Chris Grillot at
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