The evolution of social networking

First there was Friendster. Then MySpace. Then came Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

Is Google next?

Rumor has it that Google is developing a social network competitor for Facebook and MySpace, tentatively called Google Me.

Who knows what it will entail, but given Google's popularity and success with its search engine, e-mail service, blogging network and almost everything, Google Me could end up becoming the next big thing.

I never got into MySpace and was more than happy to deactivate my account a few years ago. But, the six-year-old site still has more than 122 million users.

While the site introduced the whole social networking idea to the world, it was a little too customizable for me. From the individual page designs to music playlists, MySpace always looked a bit too cluttered. Plus, the site was always famous for band spam. It seemed that every week my inbox would be filled with friend requests from a handful of random wanna-be bands.

A few months after its 2004 launch at Harvard, Facebook hit my college. At first, only students at certain colleges could get accounts until anyone with a university e-mail address could get a Facebook.

It wasn't super big until probably 2005 or 2006. My friends and I liked it more than MySpace because, originally, we didn't get spam mail and requests.

Then, a few years ago, Facebook opened up to high school students, and eventually anyone with an e-mail address.

Since everyone, including your mom, most likely is on it, it sort of took over. It's so popular that this fall, a movie about the site's development, "The Social Network," will be released.

It also raised concerns about stalking. Unless it's 3 a.m., in which case checking up on everyone you went to middle school with is easily more interesting than counting sheep.

Twitter, which launched in 2006, limits users to 140 measly characters. Compared to Facebook and MySpace, it's easily the least cluttered. After all, you only get one or two lines to type. It's probably more annoying than Facebook because messages almost have to be in text speak, with no punctuation, grammar, spelling or complete thoughts.

All the social networking sites can get creepy, but foursquare, which you can set to automatically update your Facebook or Twitter status, tells your friends list exactly where you are.

Not like I'm in Charleston or I'm in Columbia, but I'm at Teavana on King Street. Sure, the site makes it like a game where you get badges and can become mayor of a place.

But, hello? Someone can pinpoint your location. And be like "Oh hi, I saw on the Internet that you would be at this exact place this very instant."

Needless to say, I won't be signing up for that site, unless I can win a (real) car or something.