Research Topic Exploration

I have more or less a general idea of what I would to research for my paper this semester. For years I have been hearing all the negative aspects of online social networking. Kids are getting addicted. Too much private information about a person is easily accessible. People are more deficient in social skills on a real life interaction basis.  There are several great arguments against the use of social networking; however, the list of benefits are much more abundant than the list of drawbacks. For instance, we now have a resource that allows us to meet thousands of people more easily. We can now be friends with someone in China or even India. Another main benefit of easy, long distance communication is the ability to keep in touch with old friends and acquaintances. I can't even begin to guess the number of facebook groups I've been a part of for group projects for class. These groups were always very helpful with keeping us on the same page. We could post anything on the wall that we wanted the rest of the group to know such as ideas, links to research articles, etc. Other benefits are keeping digital photo albums and even invitations. With this resource we can save paper from printed pictures and mailed invitations. There are a plethora of benefits from social networking and I'm willing to explore them and narrow the down to a discernable thesis for my paper.