Social Networking service
It is an online service site that focuses on building and reflecting of social relations among people who share interests or activities. It allowes users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.It essentially contains a representation of each user ( a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. social network service usually means an individual-centered service.
The essential types of social networking services are those which contain category places (such as former school year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with ******** and Twitter widely used worldwide, Nexopia (Canada) , Bebo, VKontakte, Hi5, Hyves (The Netherlands), Draugiem.lv (Latvia), StudiVZ (Germany), iWiW (Hungary), Tuenti (Spain), Nasza-Klasa ( Poland), Decayenne, Tagged, XING, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central Americaand Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and ********, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ are very popular in India. A 2011 survey found that 47% of American adults used a social network.
History
The potential for computer networking to facilitate new forms of computer-mediated social interaction was suggested early on The Network Nation 2 by S. Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff (Addison-Wesley, 1978). Efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communication were made in many early online services, including Usenet, ARPANET, LISTSERV…. Many prototypical features of social networking sites were also present in online services such as America Online, Prodigy, and CompuServe. Early social networking on the World Wide Web began in the form of generalized online communities such as Theglobe.com (1995), Geocities (1994) and Tripod.com (1995). Many of these early communities focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and encouraged users to share personal informations and ideas via personal WebPages by providing easy-to-use publishing tools and free or inexpensive webspace. Some communities - such as Classmates.com - took a different way by simply having people link to each other via email addresses. In the late 1990s, user profiles became a central feature of social networking sites, allowing users to compile lists of "friends" and search for other users with similar interests. New social networking methods were developed by the end of the 1990s, and many sites began to develop more advanced features for users to find and manage friends. This newer generation of social networking sites began to flourish with the emergence of SixDegrees.com in 1997, followed by Makeoutclub in 2000, Friendster in 2002, and soon became part of the Internet mainstream. Friendster was followed by MySpace and LinkedIn a year later, and finally, Bebo. proving popular for social networking sites , by 2005, MySpace was reportedly getting more page views than Google. ******** launched in 2004, has since become the largest social networking site in the world. Today, there are over 200 active sites using a wide variety of social networking models
May 2011: Based on TNS research, the global average of who access daily the social networking sites accounts is 46 percent.
Social effect
Web based social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic, and geographic borders. Through e-mail and instant messaging, online communities are created where a gift economy is encouraged through cooperation. Information is particularly suited to gift economy so the information can be gifted at practically no cost. ******** and other social networking tools are the object of scientific research. Scientistshave begun to investigate the effects of social networking sites, investigating how such sites may play into issues of identity, privacy, , youth culture, and education. Many websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model which provide means for connecting with interested users and allow for the sharing of information and ideas in a digital environment. In 2011, HCL Technologies conducted research showed that 50% of British employers use social networking sites/services during office hours.
Typical structure
Basics
Social networking sites share some conventional features. users are encouraged to create profiles containing different informations about themselves and upload pictures to their profiles, post blog for others to read, search for other users with similar interests, and compile and share lists of contacts. To protect user privacy, social networks usually have controls that allow users to choose who can view their profile, contact them, add them to their list of contacts, and so on…
Additional features
such as the ability to create groups that share common interests, upload or watch live videos, and hold discussions. Geosocial networking provides Internet mapping services to organize user participation around geographic features . In most mobile communities, users can now create their own profiles, make friends, participate in chat rooms, hold private conversations, share photos and videos, and share blogs by using their mobile phone. Some companies provide services which allow their customers to build their own mobile community
Social networks and education
Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-rooms and groups, upload tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom. Social networks are also being used in teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face The use of online social networks by libraries is also an increasingly prevalent and growing tool that is being used to communicate with more potential library users.
Social networks and employment
A final rise in social network use is being driven by college students using the services to network with professionals for internship and job opportunities. Many studies have been done on the effectiveness of networking online in a college setting.
Business model
Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been established in customers' minds. Companies such as MySpace and ******** sell online advertising on their site. Their business model is based upon large membership count. Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide. Social networks operate under a business model. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the consumers are agents.
Issues
Privacy
Privacy concerns users on the dangers of giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services. In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies. In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might be considered invasion of privacy.
Data mining
Through data mining, companies are able to improve their sales and profitability. With this data, companies create customer profiles that contain customer demographics and online behavior.. ******** has been especially important to marketing strategists. ********’s controversial gives companies access to the millions of profiles in order to tailor their ads to a ******** user’s own interests and hobbies. However, rather than sell actual user information, ******** sells tracked “social actions”.
Notifications on websites
There has been a trend for social networking sites to send out only 'positive' notifications to users. For example sites such as Bebo, ********, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a person's friends list.
This allows users to purge undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list. It also enforces the general positive atmosphere of the website without drawing attention to unpleasant happenings such as friends falling out, rejection and failed relationships.
Access to information
Many social networking services, such as ********, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. Parents who want to access their child's MySpace or ******** account have become a big problem for teenagers who do not want their profile seen by their parents. By making their profile private, teens can select who may see their page, allowing only people added as "friends" to view their profile and preventing unwanted viewing of the profile by parents. Most teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents.
Risk for child safety
the governments have been concerned about the users from children and teenagers of social networking services, particularly in relation to online sexual predators. A certain number of actions have been engaged by governments to better understand the problem and find some solutions. "the largest crimes against children case brought anywhere by anyone."
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication has been a growing issue as more and more people have turned to social networking as a means of communication. . Further, social networking sites have become popular sites for youth culture to explore themselves in relationships". A Privacy Paradox Many teens and social networking users may be harming their interpersonal communication by using sites such as ******** and MySpace. the fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by noises and bright lights ………The convenience which social network sites give users to communicate with one another can also damage their interpersonal communication. “Networked, we are together, but so lessened are our expectations of each other that we feel utterly alone. And there is the risk that we come to see others as objects to be accessed--and only for the parts we find useful, comforting, or amusing …Furthermore, social network sites can create insincere friendships, Turkle also noted, “They nurture friendships on social-networking sites and then wonder if they are among friends. They become confused about companionship ” .
Psychological effects of social networking
As social networking sites have risen in popularity over the past years, people have been spending so much of ther time on social networking sites and on the Internet in general.. social networking can foster feelings of sensitivity to disconnection, which can lead to loneliness.
Investigations
Use of social network websites in investigations
Social networking services are being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and ******** has been used by police and university officials. ******** is being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other users from the same school which often include assistants and police who have signed up for the service. One UK police force has sifted pictures from ******** and arrested some people who had been photographed in a public place holding a weapon in a public place such as a knife .
Application domains
Government applications
Social networking is being used by various government agencies. Social networking tools serve as a quick and easy way for the government to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activity. people can explore underground caves or explore the effects of global warming. Similarly, NASA has taken advantage of a few social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr.
Business applications
The use of social networking services presents the potential of having a major impact on the world of business and work .Social networks connect people at low cost; These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services.
Dating applications
Many social networks provide an online environment for people to communicate and exchange personal information for dating purposes. Intentions can be :looking for a one time date, short-term relationships, or long-term relationships. . Many popular online dating services such as Match.com, Yahoo Personals, and eHarmony.com are seeing a decrease in users, where social networks like MySpace and ******** are experiencing an increase in users. The number of Internet users in the U.S. that visit online dating sites has fallen from a peak of 21% in 2003 to 10% in 2006. So it is undeniable that social networking sites are quickly becoming the new way to find dates online.
Educational applications
The National School Boards Association reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and their students are now used for learning, educator professional development, and ******* sharing. Ning for teachers, TermWiki, Learn Central,TeachStreet and other sites are being built to foster relationships that include educational blogs, formal communities, as well as communication such as chats and discussions sites.
Social networks are also emerging as online yearbooks, both public and private. One such service is MyYearbook which allows anyone from the general public to register and connect.
Medical applications
Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage knowledge, and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately "32 percent of their marketing dollars" attempting to influence the opinion leaders of social networks. PatientsLikeMe offers its members the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient related to their condition. For alcoholics and addicts, SoberCircle gives people in recovery the ability to communicate with one another and strengthen their recovery through the encouragement of others who can relate to their situation. DailyStrength is also a website that offers support groups .
Social and political applications
Social networking sites have recently showed a value in social and political movements. In the Egyptian revolution, ******** and Twitter both played a role in keeping people connected. Egyptian activist have credited social networking sites with providing a platform for planning protest and sharing news from Tahrir Square in real time. By presenting a platform for thousands of people to share videos of mainly events, social networking proves to be a vital tool in revolutions.
learn how to exercise your choice to share what you want with those you want, keep up with changes, and talk with others about information ,create a respectful place for you to discuss the importance of privacy.
give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Millions of people use social network sites everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.
( تقرير عن مشاركة سيئة )، و الموجودة أسفل كل مشاركة .
2011-12-05, 17:08
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