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A social network site allows people who share interests to build a ‘trusted’ network/ online community. A social network site will usually provide various ways for users to interact, such as IM (chat/ instant messaging), email, video sharing, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, etc.

The main types of social networking sites have a ‘theme’, they allow users to connect through image or video collections online (like Flickr or YouTube) or music (like MySpace, lastfm). Most contain libraries/ directories of some categories, such as former classmates, old work colleagues, and so on (like Facebook, friendsreunited, Linkedin, etc). They provide a means to connect with friends (by allowing users to create a detailed profile page), and recommended systems linked to trust.

Here are some of the more popular Social Networking spaces:

Popular Social Networks (widely used in 2007)

• Facebook – A social networking website. Initially the membership was restricted to students of Harvard University. It was originally based on what first-year students were given called the “face book” which was a way to get to know other students on campus. As of July 2007, there over 34 million active members worldwide. From September 2006 to September 2007 it increased its ranking from 60 to 6th most visited web site, and was the number one site for photos in the United States.
• Twitter – A free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, to the Twitter website, or an application/ widget within a space of your choice, like MySpace, Facebook, a blog, an RSS Aggregator/reader. More
• MySpace – A popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos internationally. According to Alexa Internet, MySpace is currently the world’s sixth most popular English-language website and the sixth most popular website in any language, and the third most popular website in the United States, though it has topped the chart on various weeks. As of September 7, 2007, there are over 200 million accounts. More

Click here for a more extensive list.

Can I have it in English please?

Sure. Watch this movie from Common Craft;

Coming soon…

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to explore Social Networking with you. I’ll invite you to join me in my Social Networks, if you don’t already belong.

We’ll look at some options for creating and maintaining Social Networks for educational purposes, and some examples of education focused Social Networks.

Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see covered, or please ask any questions and I’ll endeavor to get some answers for you!