On the new breed of social networking sites, everyone can hear you squirm. Artists, film-makers, musicians, lonely kids looking for love … all twists on life can be found here in their dubious glory. These sites are the most powerful social force since the formation of the internet itself, their easy-to-use interface’s have allowed users to upload and share music, videos, online diaries and search for users with similar interests in a way that has revolutionised not only the internet, but an entire generation’s social lives. Bloggers have found love, unwise liaisons have been discovered and careers have been launched.

In June 2006, Playboy magazine launched a special edition focusing on ‘girls of Myspace’; within the UK music industry, My Chemical Romance, Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys have all enjoyed huge success on the back of publicising their music on social networking websites, representing a sea change in the way that people find out about and subsequently consume new music; there have been tales of criminal acts that had their genesis within the alleged sharing of personal information on these sites… the impact and repercussions are infinite…

Through interviews with bands, music industry professionals, and a host of weird and wonderful characters whose lives have been changed forever by social networking sites, - such as Bebo, Faceparty, Friendster, Friends-Reunited and Myspace. The history and development of these unique websites and their social impact is told for the first time in a suitably irreverent style and presented in this user-friendly format with entertaining hand-drawn illustrations to enrich the text. This is not a book for computer geeks or tech-heads, but an immensely readable and entertaining insight into the real people and bewildering stories caught up in this most modern of digital communications.

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