Social Networking Websites

Social Networking Websites

Marika SaidovaCIS 161Anglo-American University (AAU)

Index

• History • Introduction about Social Networking Websites• Social Networking Definitions & Terms• Giant Social Networking Websites Examples• Ongoing Developments• Positive Aspects for Social Networking•Criticisms against Social Networks• Success Stories• My opinion

HistoryEarly social networking websites:

1995 - classmates.com

focused on ties between former schoolmates

1997 – sixdegrees.com

focused on indirect ties

Social networks connect people at low cost, such as chat, email, video, voice chat, interactive web applications and so on…

Intro Social Networking Websites

Networked Economy

Immigrant Networks

National Innovation Networks

Networking

Entrepreneurial Networks

Ego Networks

Regional Networks

Infrastructure Networks

Social Networks

Link

Social Networking Definitions & Terms

• What is a network?A set of nodes, points, or locations connected by means of data, voice, and video communications for the purpose of exchange.

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Social Networking Definitions & Terms, cont’d

• What is a Social Network? Wikipedia Def.•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a complex set of the dyadic ties (interactions) between these actors.

Giant Social Networking Websites Examples

•www.Myspace.com, 2003

•www.Digg.com, 2004

• www.Facebook.com, 2004

•www.YouTube.com, 2005

Modern social networking websites:

• 2002 – Friendster

• now mostly used in Asia

• 2003 – Myspace

• Which was bought by News Corporation (parent company of Fox) in 2005

• most popular social networking site in 2006

Giant Social Networking Websites Ex, cont’d

• 2004 - Facebook (founded by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard as thefacebook.com)

• largest and fastest growing site in the world

• membership initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Ivy League; later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over

• 2005 – Bebo www.bebo.com

• stands for “blog early, blog often”

Giant Social Networking Websites Ex, cont’d

Ongoing Developments

• Third-party applications

• Privacy settings

• Instant messaging

• News feed (Facebook)

• Music (Myspace)

Positive Aspects for Social Networking• Ease of access to recent trends/topics

• Digg

• Faster communication over longer distances

• Facebook, Myspace, Digg

• Big audience

• Blogging (Blogger, Livejournal, Youtube, Wordpress)

• Equating computer to sociability; second life

• Facebook, Myspace

• Promoting False Identities

• Celebrities/Political

• Site Security

• Lack of customer service

• Accessibility and reliability

• Child Safety

• Stalking

• Party gatecrashing

• Crashing uninvited parties which were advertised through sites like Myspace and Facebook where anyone could see the invitation.

Criticisms against Social Networks

Criticisms against Social Networks, cont’d

• Social Exploitation and Censorship

• Social and Cultural

• Censorship

• Privacy

• Security

• Hacked Facebook profiles is on increase

Success Stories…

Mark Zuckerberg who created Facebook when he was 19, and now he is called the genius/networking king.Zuckerberg is now the world’s youngest billionaire.After his success,500 companies like Yahoo offered him deals

And now he is a very successful businessman!

Kevin Rose created Digg ” the social news website”.Rose became the king of the internet, and he made 60 million dollars in 18 months.Digg was sold for $60 million, and got a deal from Google for around 200 million.

Success Stories…

My Opinion?

Social networking sites have caused much debate among users across the globe. They help us to connect more easily to others, display our interests in a public forum, and allow us to forge connections despite vast space between users.

Positive aspects:

• Simple, user friendly set up and personalization

• Usually cost efficient/free

• Easily accessible and globally available

Positive aspects notwithstanding, there are some arguments against social networking sites, including:

My Opinion? cont’d

• Lack of privacy/ control over what is public and not

• Encourages procrastination

• Tendency to compartmentalize and make vague and occasionally unfair assumptions about others

•Become antisocial

Thanks for your attention