What is A Social Networking Website
|
What Is Social Networking
|
Social networks are websites and apps that allow users and organizations to connect, communicate, share information and form relationships. People can connect with others in the same area, families, friends, and those with the same interests. Social networks are one of the most important uses of the internet today. Popular social networking sites -- such as Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok -- enable individuals to maintain social connections, stay informed and access, as well as share a wealth of information. These sites also enable marketers to reach their target audiences. Social networking sites have come a long way since the first social networking site, SixDegrees.com, was launched in 1997. Today, the world is rapidly adopting newer social networking platforms. According to DataReportal, a Kepios analysis from January 2022 indicated that there are more than 4.74 billion social network users worldwide. How does social networking work?.
The term social networking entails having connections in both the real and the digital worlds. Today, this term is mainly used to reference online social communications. The internet has made it possible for people to find and connect with others who they may never have met otherwise. Online social networking is dependent on technology and internet connectivity. Users can access social networking sites using their PCs, tablets or smartphones. Most social networking sites run on a back end of searchable databases that use advanced programming languages, such as Python, to organize, store and retrieve data in an easy-to-understand format. For example, Tumblr uses such products and services in its daily operations as Google Analytics, Google Workspace and WordPress.
What Is A Social Networking Website (SNS)
Since their introduction, social network sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, Cyworld, and Bebo have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily practices. As of this writing, there are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices. While their key technological features are fairly consistent, the cultures that emerge around SNSs are varied. Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language or shared racial, sexual, religious, or nationality-based identities. Sites also vary in the extent to which they incorporate new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing.
Scholars from disparate fields have examined SNSs in order to understand the practices, implications, culture, and meaning of the sites, as well as users’ engagement with them. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together a unique collection of articles that analyze a wide spectrum of social network sites using various methodological techniques, theoretical traditions, and analytic approaches. By collecting these articles in this issue, our goal is to showcase some of the interdisciplinary scholarship around these sites.
Major Social Networking Platforms
Following are the major Social Networking Platforms:
Facebook.
Facebook is a social network that offers users the opportunity to connect with people, businesses, and organizations. They can post updates and respond to the posts of others. They can share photographs and links to online content. Users can chat live, and upload and share video. Users can also communicate directly with each other via Facebook Messenger. They can join groups with like interests, and be notified of friends' activities and pages they elect to follow. Facebook was designed to be open and social. However, while the platform encourages publicly available content, it also has privacy controls that can restrict access to, for instance, friends. Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg while he went to Harvard University. Today, it is owned by Meta Platforms (of which Zuckerberg is CEO). Facebook is the world's largest social network, with about 3 billion active users.
3
Instagram.
Instagram is a social network that focuses on sharing visual media like photos and videos. It's similar to Facebook in that users create a profile and have a news feed. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with followers. Users can browse other users' content, view trending content, and follow other users. They can add others' content to their personal feed. Over time, Instagram has added new features, such as Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels, and access to shopping. Like Facebook, Instagram encourages users to keep their content publicly accessible but it also lets them set access to approved followers only. Instagram has its own direct messaging feature. In addition, Facebook Messenger has been incorporated by Instagram so users can direct message Facebook contacts while in Instagram. Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. In 2012, it was acquired by Meta Platforms (the former Facebook). Today, Instagram has around 1.5 billion active users.
3
Twitter
Twitter is a social network that allows people to communicate with short messages called tweets. Tweets are limited by the social platform to 280 characters. Users post tweets that may be useful, interesting, or even inflammatory for readers. Others use Twitter to find people and companies posting appealing, important, or newsworthy content. Once users discover others who pique their interest, they can follow them and receive their ongoing stream of tweets in their feeds. Tweeting is sometimes referred to microblogging. It's distinguished by users' ability to scan and distribute content quickly, conveniently, and easily. This may account for its popularity with those who want (or need) to get lots of messages out to the world and those who want to follow such socialistas (or vital sources of crucial information). Twitter is used by professional and citizen journalists, politicians, celebrities, marketers, and more. It was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. It is owned by Twitter, Inc. and its CEO is Parag Agrawal. In 2021, Twitter had about 430 million users. That number is expected to rise to almost 500 million by 2025.
Pinterest.
Pinterest is a social networking site that promotes image saving and sharing using a virtual pinboard. It's an innovative platform that facilitates the cataloguing and organizing of meaningful information for individuals. With Pinterest, account holders find images by browsing the web or Pinterest itself. They then pin (or save) those images to an online pinboard. Multiple pinboards can be set up and organized, based on a topic. Once they've created and built their boards to catalogue ideas and interests, users can access them whenever they want. Clicking on the image reveals related information. As with other social networks, Pinterest users have a feed that exhibits images according to their interests. They can interact by "liking" images, following each other, and posting comments. There's also a feature that provides for private messaging. Pinterest was created by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp in 2009. It's owned by Pinterest, Inc. and its CEO is Bill Ready. As of 2022, Pinterest has approximately 433 million active users.
5
