Articles
[26/03/2010] Social Networking
Social networking is the combination of individuals into specific groups, for example a neighborhood or a small district with people. Traditionally social networking was for enhancing people to people contact. Its main premise is human nature itself, because people love to meet new people and would like to share their experiences, likes, dislikes and that’s where social networking starts. Although social networking is for people meeting people in real life, but it’s most popular online on the internet.
Internet has become a big part of our lives; people spend more time online than they spend with their families. Social networking online has become popular because there are millions of people on the internet and because it’s the internet where unlike the real world there are very little restrictions, people would like to share their experiences online and meet new people.
To make online social networking possible and fun, people use social networking websites. These websites work like an online community with people basically sharing their lives with online friends. A big advantage of online social networking is that it transcends boundaries, so you could be living for example in Europe, you could be friends with a person in another continent. Being a friend is one thing but in the process you would start learning new things about the different countries; as this is the beauty and the power of the internet.
There are many kinds of social networking websites. Some are invitation based while others are open to everyone. Websites like Facebook, Orkut and Myspace have open memberships where you join and make your online profile, and you could become friends that are known to you while others that you may not. Slowly but surely you will make your own space online where you will have friends that will usually share their interests and hobbies because that’s how we do social networking in real life. Facebook is by far one of the biggest online social networking website with millions of people as its members. As social networks evolved, websites like twitter are born where people share their lives in the form of texts, also known as micro blogging some people are calling twitter the future of online social networking especially as mobile internet technology improves and mobiles becomes the central online device.
Online social networking though also has its share of shortcomings that include identity and information theft. Known as online hypocrites there are people who claim to be someone they are not. It is advised to proceed with caution as it is just like meeting a stranger in real life as it is online. It is recommended to be aware of your online circle and make sure that most of your online friends are known to you, while before making new friends make sure to properly check their profiles and read testimonials or any reviews written by other friends.
Apart from that, social networking has great potential and because of it, internet has become a social hub where people can actually meet people regardless of country, culture and ethnicity.
