A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring
the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as
e-mail and instant messaging services.
Social networking has created powerful new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly
by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking
services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with
self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace and Facebook
being the most widely used in North America; Bebo, MySpace, Skyrock Blog, StudiVZ, Youmeo, Facebook and Hi5 in parts of Europe;
Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster, Orkut, and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.
There have been some attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the
FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative), but this has led to some concerns about privacy.
Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their
contact base. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services.
Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally,
social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world.
One example of social networking being used for business purposes is LinkedIn.com, which aims to interconnect professionals. It claims
to have more than 20 million registered users from 150 different industries.
Professional networking sites function as online meeting places for business and industry professionals. Other sites are bringing this
model for niche business professional networking.
Virtual communities for business allow individuals to be accessible. People establish their real identity in a verifiable place. These
individuals then interact with each other or within groups that share common business interests and goals. They can also post their
own user generated content in the form of blogs, pictures, slide shows and videos. Like a social network, the consumer essentially becomes the publisher.
A professional network is used for the business to business marketplace. These networks improve the ability for people to advance
professionally, by finding, connecting and networking with others. Business professionals can share experiences with others who have
a need to learn from similar experiences.
The traditional way to interact is face-to-face. Interactive technology makes it possible for people to network with their peers from
anywhere, at anytime in an online environment. Professional network services attract, aggregate and assemble large business-focused
audiences by creating informative and interactive meeting places.
Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for social good. Such models may be highly
successful for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience
with interested and passionate users. Users benefit by interacting with a like minded community and finding a channel for their energy
and giving. Examples include SixDegrees.org and Network for Good. The charity badge is often used within the above context.
In general, social networking services allow users to create a profile for themselves, and can be broken down into two broad
categories: internal social networking (ISN) and external social networking (ESN) sites, such as Orkut,MySpace, Facebook
and Bebo. Both types can increase the feeling of community among people. An ISN is a closed/private community that consists of a
group of people within a company, association, society, education provider and organization or even an "invite only" group created
by a user in an ESN. An ESN is open/public and available to all web users to communicate and are designed to attract advertisers.
ESN's can be smaller specialised communities, i.e. linked by a single common interest eg www.TheSocialGolfer.com, www.acountrylife.com,
www.greatcookscommunity.com or they can be large generic social networking sites eg MySpace, Facebook etc. However, whether specialised
or generic there is commonality across the general approach of social networking sites. Users can upload a picture of themselves,
create their 'profile' and can often be "friends" with other users. In most social networking services, both users must confirm that
they are friends before they are linked. For example, if Alice lists Bob as a friend, then Bob would have to approve Alice's friend
request before they are listed as friends. Some social networking sites have a "favorites" feature that does not need approval from
the other user. Social networks usually have privacy controls that allows the user to choose who can view their profile or contact them, etc.
Several social networks in Asian markets such as Japan, Korea and China have reached not only a high usage but also a high level of
profitability. Services such as Mixi (Japan), Cyworld (Korea) and QQ (China) or the mobile-focused service Mobile Game Town by the company
DeNA in Japan (which has over 10 million users) are all profitable, setting them apart from their western counterparts.
Some social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations,
upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums. Geosocial networking co-opts internet mapping services to organize
user participation around geographic features and their attributes.
There is also a trend for more interoperability between social networks led by technologies such as OpenID and OpenSocial.
Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new
service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers' minds. Companies such as MySpace and
Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Hence, they are seeking large memberships, and charging for membership would
be counter productive. Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better
targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide. Sites are also seeking other ways to make money, such as
by creating an online marketplace (Facebook's Marketplace) or by selling professional information and social connections
to businesses: such as LinkedIn.
Social networks operate under an autonomous business model, in which a social network's members serve dual roles as both the
suppliers and the consumers of content. This is in contrast to a traditional business model, where the suppliers and consumers
are distinct agents. Revenue is typically gained in the autonomous business model via advertisements, but subscription-based
revenue is possible when membership and content levels are sufficiently high.
Other business models such as including digital goods (personalization, avatars, background music, skins, gifts, etc.),
connection with casual games (on QQ in China or Mobile Game Town in Japan), or link to mobile first made successful in
Asia. QQ's revenues in 2007 were US$523 million and a US$225 million profit.
On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information
and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services,
such as MySpace, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents.
In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large
corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental
to an individual, may be taken.
Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data - information having been altered or removed by the user may in fact be
retained and/or passed to 3rd parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested
e-mail addresses from users' e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation.
In medical and scientific research, asking subjects for information about their behaviors is normally strictly scrutinized by
institutional review boards, for example, to ensure that adolescents and their parents have informed consent. It is not clear
whether the same rules apply to researchers who collect data from social networking sites. These sites often contain a great deal
of data that is hard to obtain via traditional means. Even though the data are public, republishing it in a research paper might
be considered invasion of privacy.
