Social Networking

Given the boom in the Internet and mobile devices industry, people across the world are more connected than ever before. Social networking is the in thing.

Social networking

is all about developing connections or ties between friends and associates. While people have always networked with one another, the Internet has allowed us to do this in a global manner. Some great examples of popular social networks are Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Most people have heard of these services and many use them on a daily basis. These communities are able to generate income from advertising and additional paid services.

Communities Galore

Digg.com

 is an aggregation of information from other sites. They allow people to post links to interesting videos, blogs, news feeds, and other forms of media and content. This posting is then pushed to the top of their site based on how many others on the site also enjoy that post. Eventually, the posting will fall below the fold and fade into oblivion. The key with their site is that you are not actually viewing the body of the content on their site. This service is essentially a dynamic link farm times ten.

LinkedIn.com

 has taken the concept of a social network and polished it with a professional touch. With this service we can build a professional profile, connect with recruiters, connect with other professionals in our area, and most importantly, connect with everyone with whom they are connected. LinkedIn has really latched onto the power of the extended network concept.

Facebook.com

 originally started at Harvard University. This site was essentially a digital version of the book that the school gave to its incoming students so that everyone could get to know one another. This site is very much about building profiles and linking those profiles through an eavesdropping feature that Facebook calls "the wall". This feature essentially catches all the activity that your friends are performing on the site. The wall is another form of aggregation. Facebook is also well-known for its extensible features that allow developers to create and host applications directly in the Facebook environment.

Twitter.com

 is what most would call a micro-blog. This site allows us to post very small blurbs to our blog that are then fed out to our subscribers (friends). This service is largely used for letting people know what we are up to. A great use of this feature is posting: "I am at such and such coffee shop. If anyone is nearby feel free to stop by and have a cup with me".


Each of these are really large community sites and can easily boast of having millions of subscribers/members. It is however also interesting to note that of the usually large user population, only a small percentage is typically active and most others are passive users. People may join the sites more for social status, but may not really be active users.


There are also many examples of successful community sites that operate on a much smaller scale. Some of these include Rockero.com, AnimeDates.com, and Ning.com. While not as large or as well-known as LinkedIn, Facebook, and so on, these are very active communities that are able to generate a living by means of advertisements on their community. Some communities like Ning even have a membership fee.