In this report I will be outlining what Social Networking Sites are. A growing number of different Social Network Sites allows people to reunite and communicate without the limitations of distance or time. Enabling people to have regular interaction and keep up to date with the everyday life of others. So how do these sites work and why are they so popular? Associates may include close friends, family, distant relatives, old school friends, previous work colleagues or just shared interests. Whilst you will have frequent face to face contact with many of these people, others you will not.
It is thought that our interactions with others, enhances our individual well-being. Due to the mainstream popularity of Social Network Sites where many people engage, they are a useful platform for both businesses and academic learning, with the creation of forum groups, they provide and extension of class discussion. Communication pages are a great benefit for schools and colleges to update information for parents and students. Not forgetting the functional applications, designed to support education. Many sites introduced games and other “applications” to entertain users and combat the flatness for new users during the early stages and those with a low number “friends”. Facebook has a large number of "Applications" available. Most sites contain common aspects, including a personal “profile” to allow the user to identify themselves, possibly with a photograph and a short description. They can then link to other people they know within the site to create a list of “friends”. Additional information may also be invited, such as age, location, hobbies and interests. ‘Their network of connections is displayed as an integral piece of their self-presentation’ (boyd et. al 2007). Some sites such as Twitter allows users to change the appearance of their profile page, this site is very popular with celebrities.
As always, there are negative aspects to using online
References: DirectGov, 2012. Social Networking Service [online] Available at: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Yourchildshealthandsafety/Internetsafety/DG_182627 [Accessed 13 April 2012] Boyd, d. m. and Ellison, N. B. (2007) ‘Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship’, in Donelan, H., Kear, K. and Ramage, M. (eds) Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader, Abingdon, Routledge, pp. 261–281.