It’s hard to believe, given the majority of users on the Internet today that the World Wide Web started out as purely a way for people to discover data pertaining to research matters. While this is still a major part of why people use the Internet in the New Millennium (although it is certainly "Buyer Beware" when it comes to the veracity of facts!) today’s Internet is being used for a much broader spectrum ideas.

One only needs to look at some of the most popular websites out there to see that one of the main reasons people log on to the Internet is for what has been termed "social networking". Boiled down, what this term means is that a website attracts and caters to people who want to keep in touch with others, and maybe meet new people as well.

It is for these reasons that people in the19-30 age group log onto the Internet every day. In fact, thanks to sites such as Facebook and MySpace, more people in this demographic are using the Internet every day than ever before.

The specific reasons why depend on the age group involved. For example, lower ages in that category might wish to stay in touch with their high school friends. The relative newness of social networking means that these ages have a better chance of remaining in touch with friends from their teenage years than has ever been possible before.

For older members of the age group, social networking is a great chance to get reacquainted with old friends from university and even high school, if they can remember people from high school anyway.

The most successful social networking sites include components which allow users to expand their existing networks as well as maintain old ones. They do so by accommodating groups of similarly minded individuals, or those most likely to connect with each other based on similar interests. Discussion groups and picture posting abilities are often central to this idea, and people in the 19-30 year old age group tend to be very distrustful of those unwilling to disclose information.

Social networking is without doubt the fastest growing Internet niche out there today. People of all age groups have a strong desire to maintain a sense of community, and social networking on the World Wide Web has facilitated this as never before.