Surfing social networking sites in cyber cafés has caught on in the state capital. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, July 7: Cyber café owners in the state capital cannot thank Mark Zuckerberg enough for launching the social networking site Facebook.

They also have a few other sites like Orkut, MySpace and Twitter to thank for the increase in the rush of youths at their café for long hours of socialising on the Net.

This craze for staying connected with friends and friends of friends and of course “likely” friends is spelling boom for the cyber café owners. So much so that a few of the cafés have been renovated and extended to accommodate the mad rush.

“Earlier, people only used to visit my café for sending mails or checking websites. But now, a majority of the customers spend their time here on different social networking sites. The craze is visible amo-ng people of all age groups,” said Dinesh Kumar, who runs a cyber café in Sabzi Bagh.

Ramesh Sharma, owner of a cyber café on Boring Road, said the craze for social networking sites has resulted in a steady flow of young customers. “The regular crowd has forced me to renovate my café. I have also doubled the seating capacity to handle the rush,” he said.

Some of the youngsters are also happy with cyber cafés, as there is nobody — parents — to breathe down their neck.

Raunak Kumar, a high school student, said he prefers visiting cyber cafés to log on to the social networking sites because of his strict parents. “Parents should keep pace with the changing times. A judicious use of social networking sites is not going to hamper anyone,” he said.

College student Pratik Jain, who is a regular on Facebook, said: “I spend around five hours daily on Facebook to interact with my online friends.”

For, Surbhi Jaiswal, another college student, social networking sites has brought her happiness. She met her first love on Orkut last year.

“Around a year ago, I met a boy on Orkut and today we are in love. I had never thought that I would meet my love in the virtual world,” she told The Telegraph.

Her cellphone also comes in handy at odd hours when it is not possible to visit cyber cafes. “My cellphone comes handy, particularly during la-te night, as it allows me to chat with my friends,” she said.

As youths spend their night giggling over photos, status messages and videos posted by friends, parents, too, are spending sleepless nights, concerned about their children’s future.

Sheetal, a mother of two, said: “My children spend hours talking to friends on social networking sites. This has started to affect their studies.”

Nibha Sinha, mother of a 14-year-old daughter, said social networking sites are taking up a lot of the youngsters’ time, affecting their mental and physical health. “I keep a strict vigil on the hours my daughter spends on social networking sites at home. I allow her to be online for only a limited time,” said Nibha.

What Nibha and mothers like her don’t realise is kids today don’t really need an Internet connection at home to be networking savvy. There is always a cyber café round the corner at their service.