This document provides an overview of social networking and online communities. It defines social networking as web-based services that allow individuals to create public profiles, connect with other users, and view their connections. Popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are discussed. The document also examines statistics on social networking usage, the history of early sites, benefits and privacy concerns of social networking, and different types of online communities that can form. Finally, it considers both positives and negatives of increased online connectivity and the future of social networking.

1. Tara Beeforth
3079506
Social Networks and Online Communities
An Analysis of Online Networking Phenomena

3. Overview
 A definition
 What sites are classed as Social Networking?
 Millions of users
 Why Social Networking?
 “Social Networking in plain English”
 The Statistics
 Age distribution
 The History
 The positives
 Privacy concerns?
 Stranger danger
 Something to think about..
 Online communities
 The Future

4. Social Networking
• A Definition:
• Social networks can be defined as web-
based services that allow for individuals
to construct a public or semi-public
profile within a bounded system and
articulate a list of other users with
whom they share a connection. It also
allows for users to view and transverse
their list of connections and those made
by others within the system. Slight
variations exist from site to site.
• (Boyd, 2007).

5. What types of sites are classed as social
networking?
Examples of ‘Social networking’ sites include;
 www.facebook.com
 www.twitter.com
 www.bebo.com
 www.youtube.com
 www.tumblr.com
 www.myspace.com
 And the list goes on!
Online communities are created within these
social networking sites and for a variety of
reasons/to fill a variety of complex social needs.

7. Since their introduction, social
networking sites such as
Myspace, Facebook and Bebo
have attracted millions of
users, many of whom have
integrated these sites into their
daily practices.
(Boyd, 2007)
Millions of users

8. Why Social Networking?
Social networking fulfils a
variety of needs across many
different online communities.
Most sites are formed to
support pre-existing social
networks however others help
strangers connect based upon
shared interests, political
views or activities.
(Boyd, 2007)

9. “Social Networking in plain English”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc
Click this link to watch an informative
Youtube clip that simplifies Social
Networking!

10. The statistics
An American study of youth social
networking discovered that over half
of youth aged between 12-17 use
online social networking sites like
Myspace or Facebook.
The study also discovered that girls
are more likely to use these sites. The
study also determined that generally
girls use the site to reinforce pre
existing friendships and boys use the
sites as opportunities for flirting and
extending their social networks.
(Lenhart 2008)

11. Age Distribution of Social Networking users
Research conducted by pipl.statistics (2006) found that while most
other social networking sites have a mixed range of demographics,
Bebo and Xanga had the lowest demographic aged from their teens to
early 20’s.

12. Online Communities
Lesser (2008) outlines four types of
electronic communities.
 Communities of Transaction
(facilitates buying and trading of goods)
 Communities of Interest
(individuals with common interests)
 Communities of Fantasy
(create new personalities, environments)
 Communities of Relationship
(centre on intense personal experiences)
(Lesser 2008, p85)

13. The History
The first recognisable social
network site was launched in
1997 and was called
sixdegrees.com. This site allowed
for users to create profiles, list
their friends and as of 1998, surf
their friends lists. One complaint
with sixdegrees was that after
accepting a friend request there
was little to do on the site.
(Boyd, 2007)

14. The Positives
Social networking offers an array of
benefits to its users. Some of these
include; maintaining relationships
when people move from one
community to another, to support
already existing relationships, for use
as a ‘venting’ device, as well as a tool
to increase capital gain. Staying in
touch with community members is in an
easy and effective manner and is of
great benefit in both social and
economic manners (eg. Employment
opportunities)
(Ellison, 2007)

16. Privacy concerns?
Public vs. Private spaces
Recently, there has been much concern in regards to the personal
information that youth are posting on social networking sites. Teenagers
will freely give up personal information to social networks on the net,
yet are suprised when their parents read their journals.
“The posting of personal
information by teens and students
has consequences”
(Barnes, 2006)

17. Stranger Danger
Gross (2005) emphasises the point
that although participation in
social networking increases the
ability for individuals to network
with their friends it also exposes
users to unknown amounts of
strangers who can view their
personal information. Gross (2005)
also outlines the fact that very few
users of social networking know how
to/ have changed the highly
permeable privacy preferences.

18. Something to think about...
“Social networking sites create a repository
of personal information” (Barnes, 2006)
Social networking sites are cumulative and
persistent, the data that users enter
exists forever if the users do not delete it
themselves. Adults are less likely to disclose
personal information, however teenagers
freely give up personal information which is
commonly used by marketers to target youth
groups. This collection of social networking
data for use in marketing, adds a new
meaning to the phenomena of social
networking .

19. Is all of this
connectedness a BAD
thing or a GOOD
thing.......?

20. This is SUBJECTIVE!
Different individuals/different uses/ different
sites all bring about separate issues...

21. Convenience!

22. Stay Connected (or too
connected?)!!

23. Going too far?

24. ‘Twitter Life Cycle’-
The addictive nature of ‘life streaming’

25. The Future?
Social networks offer a way for people around the world to
communicate with each other. Users can share their information and in turn
meet new people with shared interests (Seppa 2008). However there
are many issues that have risen since the invention of social
networking that complicate online social networks such as; privacy concerns,
inappropriate use of social networks, internet bullying, and
exploitation by marketing teams. These are all issues that should be taken
into consideration for the use of social networking in the future. Social
networking proves to be extremely beneficial for a variety of reasons,
especially for creating online communities for individuals to find support, share
common interests, and create relationships. The proper utilisation of social
networking should be encouraged (teaching users how to use privacy settings etc)
for the successful and complication-free experience of social networking for the
future.

26. References
• Barnes, Susan B. A privacy Paradox: Social Networking in the United
States. Peer Reviewed Journal of the Internet. Volume 11, Number 9. 2006.
• Boyd, Dannah M. Ellison, Nicole B. Social Network sites: Definition, History
and Scholarship. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. Volume
13, Issue 1 pp: 210-230. 2007.
• Ellison, B. Nicole. Steinfield, Charles. Lampe, Cliff. The Benefits of Facebook
Friends: Social Capital and College Students’ use of Online Networking
Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Volume 12, Issue 4
pp: 1143-1168, 2007
• Gross, Ralph. Aquisiti, Alessandro. Information Revelation and privacy in
online social networks. Privacy Issues in Practice; pp: 71-80. 2005.
• Lenhart, Amanda. Madden, Mary. Social Networking sites and Teens: An
Overview. Pew Internet and American Life Project. 2008.

27. • Lesser, Eric L. Fontaine, Micheal A. Slusher, Jason A. Knowledge and
Communities. Butterworth-Heinemann Publications, 2000.
• Seppa, Ville. The Future of Social Networking. Helsinki University of
Technology. Seminar on Internet Working. April 2008.
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc
• http://pipl.com/statistics/social-networks/5-facts/