I am not sure that social networking sites fill a 'need', but they do make it easier to stay in contact with people who you might otherwise lose touch with. The immediate social stimulation of it can be addicting.

It fills a need to talk/type about yourself. I imagine before these social internet sites existed, people just talked about themselves on the phone and did not have the luxury of having it all available at the click on a mouse.

That's a good question, one that I'd need to think about for a long time before I could offer the best answer. But off the top of my head, I'm not sure it so much fills a 'need' as much as it creates a new opportunity and method of communicating and socializing. When I grew up (before internet), we socialized at school and in our homes, at the community hall, or church, etc. This still goes on, but now we also have the ability to socialize online. Just as one example, back in the day, I might have had a hard time finding people who liked the same music as I did. I might have felt compelled to steer my musical tastes more in alignment with my immediate peers in order to fit in. But now, I can easily find people who share the same taste in music as me. Based on the things I've been reading lately, people like to join 'tribes' of like-minded folks and sites like Facebook and MySpace make it possible to do that, even if you never get to meet these people face-to-face. The thing I've noticed is that the youngest generation seems to adopt these news methods of socialization much quicker than older folks do. As another example of this, they're also doing the most 'texting' on their cell phones. That doesn't mean it's right. It just means it's right for them. For what it's worth, I joined Facebook because I'm lazy. I never joined MySpace because I think it's ugly. Of course that's just my opinion. I'll never say it's stupid.

Facebook and Myspace are social websites that allow for people (mostly teens) to interact and share lives and such. The only need they would fill would most likely have to do with whatever need one would have for being social.

It fills many needs, including none at all. There are people who use it to promote their band, business or website. There are people who use it to meet new people. There are those who use it to find people they have lost track with. There are people who use it to gain as many friends as possible because it makes them feel better about themselves. There are people who use it to express themselves creatively. There are other ways that these sites can be used as well.

MySpace and Facebook provide easy social networking online. Prior to these sites, people used online journal services, webrings (a set of connected sites, usually dealing with similar subject matter), usenet groups, online forums, IRC channels and mailing lists. The primary advantage of MySpace and Facebook (Facebook in particular) is that you don't need a lot of coding knowledge to make them work. (Although I can think of a few MySpace users who should take an HTML tutorial.) Basically, those two sites made online social networking acceptably non-nerdy and therefore available to the general public.

There is no need for them really. I just use them because I have nothing better to do with my life. Before social networking sites sprung up, people used to actually socialize with others, I assume.

I guess they just went sleazy bars before.

I personally wouldn't use them, they get you in trouble. these people that use them, should be on another site learning. that is my say.