MYSPACE, Friendster, blogs, chatrooms, MMORPG - all foreign terms to anyone using the Internet only for work.

But to under-35 digital natives, these are buzzwords for keeping up with friends, meeting new people, and even finding a mate.

In a Straits Times poll of 108 youths aged between 13 and 22 conducted earlier this month, an overwhelming 89 per cent said they regularly interact with friends online.

In fact, Ms Adrianna Tan, 21, enjoys blogging so much she even does it on the go. The frequent traveller often 'moblogs' using her mobile phone while overseas.

She also frequents technology and travel forums, and regularly posts pictures and videos on Flickr and YouTube.

Online networking is in her blood. She was surfing the Net by 10, and started her blog when she was 14.

'I like being instantly connected, and having the ability to instantly reach out to a large number of people,' said the university undergraduate.

For digital natives like her, the possibilities are endless.

They start using these networks for entertainment - online gaming or social websites, for instance - to find people who share their interests.

But as their circle of contacts widens, they use them to manage relationships.

With Web and mobile platforms, they share opinions, seek advice, moderate forums, meet people, chat, trade, and keep track of social appointments.

For some, life without these networks would be unthinkable.

Every afternoon when she gets home from school, 15-year-old Syazwani Samad makes a beeline for her computer and logs on to the Internet.

For the next six hours till she goes to bed, she chats with her friends on instant messaging programs, and surfs around on Friendster, looking for new people to befriend.

Talking to and befriending strangers using Friendster is easy. One can send messages to any person, 'smile' at them, or add them as a friend by clicking on a link to send them a 'friend request', which they can either accept or decline.

Syazwani said she is shy, and finds it difficult to make friends in real life. She feels more at ease interacting with strangers online.

'Friendster has really changed my life. How else can I make friends?' she mused.

Still others eye this digital interaction as big business.

In the last two years, News Corporation and Google paid US$580 million (S$892 million) and US$1.65 billion respectively for social networking site Myspace and video sharing site YouTube.

Singapore's digital infrastructure, which now includes Wireless@SG, could soon see similar kinds of profit.

Local dating sites Gomovie date.com and Singaporecupid .com get as many as 700 new users a year - a number that is steadily increasing each year.

Their owners generate income from membership fees and advertising. They say the stigma of meeting mates online is now long gone, and Singaporeans see nothing wrong in using online dating agencies.

'Our whole culture has changed, people are more educated and network-savvy,' observed Mr Matthew Tan, manager of Gomoviedate.com.

So why are these networks so crucial for digital natives?

Among other things, speaking to other people has become easier, more immediate and more efficient, compared to old-fashioned ways of meeting people, say, at a bar or in school.

'The key advantage is that they provide stress-free environments to meet people,' said Mr Tan.

Others agreed. 'Online interaction is less personal, so there is less social anxiety as well,' said Dr Marko Skoric, an assistant professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Nanyang Technological University.

He added: 'Some of these people who engage in this kind of networking may not be allowed to do so in real life because of their parents or a conservative culture.'

In fact, many bypass meeting others in person altogether, and may develop an entire relationship online before meeting face to face, or 'f2f' in native parlance.

Among those in The Straits Times' poll, 45 per cent said they had never met in real life people they had befriended online.

More than 50 per cent said they did not find that necessary.

Youth counsellor James Kwok said this growing lack of 'f2f' communication can lead to a life that is divorced from reality.

'It can get dangerous when they start assuming fantasy personas in chatrooms and websites, and hide behind these facades,' said Mr Kwok.

There may also be the threat of online sexual predators, he said, and a growing lack of communication with parents.

But some parents do see these risks as part of change, and in need of understanding.

'It's the 'in' thing; it's how they communicate now,' said Mrs Shelly Koh, a home tutor and housewife.

Her three teenage children chat with their friends using instant messaging programs, text messaging and online games.

For the past year, she has been using these networks to bond with them, while keeping tabs on their activities.

She first started using MSN Messenger, and now plays the online game MapleStory with them as well.

Said the 45-year-old: 'It's good because now I know what they're talking about. I'm able to speak their lingo and join in their games. They feel like they have a cool mum!'

Still, experts say these networks do not spell the end of real-life interaction, but just a shift in how it is carried out.

'We will not become purely online human beings; we will still continue to meet friends,' said Dr Skoric.

Dr Eric Thompson, a sociologist with the National University of Singapore, agreed.

'It's just that besides hanging out in the coffee shops, we are hanging out in chatrooms.'

twong@sph.com.sg