2. Introduction A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building of social networks or social relations among people, who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.
3. History Efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communication were made in many early online services, including Usenet, ARPANET, LISTSERV, and bulletin board services (BBS). 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). These early communities focused on bringing people together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and encouraged users to share personal information and ideas via personal web pages. Facebook, launched in 2004, has since then become the largest social networking site in the world.
4. Typical Structure Basics Users create profiles containing various information about themselves like uploading pictures of themselves to their profiles, post blog entries for others to read and search for other users with similar interests. In addition, user profiles often have a section dedicated to comments from friends and other users. In recent years, it has also become common for a wide variety of organizations to create profiles to advertise products and services. Additional Features Some social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums Lately, mobile social networking has become popular. In most mobile communities, mobile phone users can now create their own profiles, make friends, participate in chat rooms, create chat rooms, share photos, videos and blogs by using their mobile phone.
5. Issues Privacy On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information. 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, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behaviour on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken. Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data—information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties who may use them for spamming purposes.
6. 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, Facebook, and Myspace will not send notifications to users when they are removed from a person's friends list This allows users to clear undesirables from their list extremely easily and often without confrontation since a user will rarely notice if one person disappears from their friends list.
7. Access to information Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. Teens try to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents. To edit information on a certain social networking service account, the social networking sites require you to login or provide a password. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from adding, changing, or removing personal information, pictures, and/or other data.
8. Potential for misuse The relative freedom afforded by social networking services has caused concern regarding the potential of its misuse by individual patrons. In October 2006, a fake Myspace profile created in the name of Josh Evans by Lori Janine Drew led to the suicide of Megan Meier.The event incited global concern regarding the use of social networking services for bullying purposes
9. Use of social network websites in investigations Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace, Orkut and Facebook has been used by police and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court to determine an appropriate sentence based on a defendant's attitude.
10. Areas of Investigation Alcohol policy violations Student government election campaigns Cyber-bullying Other investigations
11. Application Domains Government Applications Social networking is more recently 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. Examples : Centers for disease control, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA
12. Business Applications The use of social networking services in an enterprise context presents the potential of having a major impact on the world of business and work Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact bases Customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services Companies can also use social networks for advertising Easy to keep in touch with contacts around the world Brand Networking
13. Dating Applications Many social networks provide an online environment for people to communicate and exchange personal information for dating purposes One time date, short-term relationships, and long-term relationships Most of these social networks, just like online dating services, require users to give out certain pieces of information People can maintain a degree of anonymity Social networks do not necessarily have to be for dating; many users simply use it for keeping in touch with friends, and colleagues Online dating sites usually require a fee, where social networks are free – Massive decrease in revenue Whether its the cost of the services, the variety of users with different intentions, or any other reason, it is undeniable that social networking sites are quickly becoming the new way to find dates online
14. Educational Applications The National School Boards Association reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Schools have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and their students are now used for learning, educator professional development, and content sharing Social networks are also emerging as online yearbooks, both public and private
15. Medical Applications Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners 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 A new trend is emerging with social networks created to help its members suffering from life altering diseases the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient data related to their condition
24. Branding certain Elements within an Application Big Brands like Porsche pay applications like “Living Social” for each exposure to the audience. Example of “Living Social” App.
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26. In Southeast Asia countries like Indonesia Virtual gifts works much better than traditional display adsSource : CrunchBase
32. Reach Target Customers LinkedIn has an edge for its professional networking niche. While Facebook can be considered as multi utility site. Apple’s Itune partnered with Facebook
33. Emerging Trends Social Networks as tools for recruiting new talent Campaigning Used to learn more about new technologies and competitors Mobile Social Networking
Cyber-bullying is "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others"
Applications for social networking sites have extended toward businesses and brands are creating their own, high functioning sites, a sector known as brand networking. It is the idea a brand can build its consumer relationship by connecting their consumers to the brand image on a platform that provides them relative content, elements of participation, and a ranking or score system. Brand networking is a new way to capitalize on social trends as a marketing tool.
