When I got over my shyness I realized that one of my problems was that I was too afraid of what other people thought of me. I was afraid that if I said one little thing wrong everyone would hate me forever. As long as you don't hang out or talk with conceited assholes, thats definatley not the case. The easiest way to stop caring about what other people think of you is to realize how little they think of you.

One of my other problems was that I didn't know what to talk about. I was a real internet addict and I spent all of my time on that, so I couldn't really partake in discussions about movies or tv shows or other things like that, even when I wanted to. Try to get into other things than the internet, if that problem applies to you.

Other than that, I just forced myself to talk a little at a time, and gradually got better. It was a social fear and one of the best ways to overcome a fear is to slowly expose yourself to it so you eventually realize it's not all that bad.

If you're really serious about overcoming your shyness, ask your parents if you can see a psychologist or therapist, because they can help with more than you may think. I used to go to therapy for other issues and he offered to help me overcome my extreme shyness, but I ignored him because I was an immature 15 year old who didn't want any help from adults. So I ended up learning the hard way.