12 Ways Social Networks are like High School

Almost makes you miss High School doesn't it?

I got the idea for this post after reading how Drug dealers and software developers (old link that no longer works in 2019) were similar. As I do come from a web developer background - I found it quite amusing (and quite sad at the end) and wondered if I could do the same for Social Media.

Below is my feeble attempt to compare High School and Social Networks - enjoy.

High School Social Networks
1. Wanting to be the Prom King/Queen 1. He/she with the most friends is cool
2. Telling everyone that you are great friends with the "plastics" and other "cool" kids 2. Adding all of the "Alist" personalities to your friends list
3. Leaving post it notes in or on lockers 3. Leaving comments and notes on someone's profile
4. Joining an after hours school club 4. Having "meetups" that revolve around your favorite network/app
5. Liking that exchange student so much you take the language class that they speak 5. Liking some application that you create a mashup using APIs in some programming language you don’t know
6. Writing for your High School newspaper 6. Starting a site to cover everything in the world about Social Networks, the sites, the apps and everything else
7. Being a part of the school's AV Club 7. Knowing how all the new apps work and trying to explain them to everyone
8. Getting kicked out of school 8. Getting banned from a network
9. Showing off or talking about your new car/phone/gadget 9. Always asking for or talking about invites to the new beta
10. Having mommy and daddy buy you something better than the other gloating kids 10. Showing off your alpha invite via your blog
11. Getting your friends together and toilet papering the school 11. Getting your friends together for a DoS against some network/site/app
12. Hooking up with the Prom Queen or King 12. Getting bought by Google, Yahoo or some other huge company