Title: Social Networking in the 1600s

In today’s society, social networking is all internet and business based.  The use of Facebook and Twitter costs the US economy $650 billion per year. Along with that, students who continue social networking notice they have a shorter attention span and worse grades.  Back in the 1600s, none of that would have been a problem. The 1600s Englishmen were able to study without any distractions. Their social networking areas were coffee shops. Coffee shops weren’t just for coffee, they were places where people could gather to converse or read. Coffee shops also represented the business world. Merchants gathered within them, raising companies and new business models. Basically, coffee shops were the first sightings of a social network, but with today’s technology, social networking is more convenient.