Random thoughts on track & field and the social networking phenomenon...

While having dinner in Hong Kong during my layover from Osaka with two of my high school classmates in September after the IAAF World Championships, one of the topics of discussion was the use of social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook.

In the last several years, these websites, and others similar in nature have taken off at a phenomenal rate. No matter what you think of sites like these (privacy issues, cyberstalkers, etc.), when used properly, it's a great way to keep track of people.

Apparently, many of you in cyberland think so...MySpace and Facebook are among the most visited websites on a daily basis.

This got me thinking while I was going through my friends list on both sites...what are the percentage of friends that I have, based on track & field event categories?

Well, here it is:

Distance runners: 46.1
Co-Workers: 15.2
Media members: 8.8
Other: 6.8
Pole vaulters: 6.4
Sprinters: 4.4
Middle distance runners: 4.4
All throws (shot/disc/hammer/javelin): 2.9
Decathlon/Heptathlon: 2.5
Other jumps (HJ/LJ/TJ): 2.5

What does this all mean? It means either I tend to hang out with distance runners, or they're the most social.

No matter how you interpret these results, it was interesting to see informally how these all played out.