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Social networking is all about building relationships and creating communities with like-minded people. The social network service organizes social groups and social relations mostly over the internet. The social network is composed mostly of people seeking friends who share the same interest or looking to interact with like-minded people. Each user can set up own profile, display social links, share videos, email and instant messaging, and many other fun features. Social network centers on the individual who joins the social group with the sole objective to share the same interest in music, religion, hobbies, sports, business, and many others. Socialization and sharing may include reading profiles and adding friends of existing contacts. The difference between the social network and the online community services is their focus. The social network centers on the individual while online community services focus on groups.
The main features of social networking sites allow individuals to associate and find old high school classmates, new friends, and receive recommendations for the right set of friends to connect. The Facebook and MySpace are the most popular social media sites. Many people socially network in Twitter too. The North Americans usually join the LinkedIn and MySpace social media site. Canadians use the Nexopia often while the Germans find the Bebo, StudiVZ, and Hi5 more fun. Iwiw is very popular in Hungary. Spain uses Tuenti more often while people in Europe usually seek friends in Badoo, Decayenne, Skyrock, Tagged, and XING. Facebook and Orkut are very popular in India while the Asians use the Friendster, Multiply, Mixi, Orkut, Cyworld, Wretch, and Xiaonei. South and Central America use Hi5 and Orkut to associate with like-minded people. The most popular and widely used social media networks across the world are Facebook, Twitter, and Bebo. The FOAF standard as well as the Open Source Initiative express some concerns about setting up a standard for social media services and eliminate same copies for specific entries of interests or friends. However, the idea conflicts with some privacy issues.
The largest social network services promote real world connections while some center on music lovers, book lovers, motherhood, or non-profit business groups. These are the most popular approach employed by social network services to provide channels for individuals to form an online community and share interest. |
