There's a lot of hype these days surrounding social networks -— Web sites that allow you to meet others, chat, share digital content or improve your skills.
Sites like Flickr and MySpace.com have been snatching headlines by signing up users by the millions. Yet those who don't live and breathe computers may justifiably wonder what Internet-based social networking has to offer them. Is it all about blogging or chatting with strangers? Read on for some answers.
Q: What is social networking?
A: In essence, social networking is all about allowing people to connect with other people. In that sense, it's very much an extension of the Internet itself. What makes social networking sites unique is that the bulk of the content is created by users of the site. The vibrancy of the network depends on the activity of the user base.
Social networking sites provide the framework for people to interact with one another. Features typically include topic forums for discussion, the ability for users to create their own forums for discussion, e-mail and instant message capability, places for users to create blogs, photo albums, and present video clips. And all of this is free, usually, paid for by advertising that appears somewhere on the site.
Q: What is MySpace.com all about?
A: MySpace.com may very well be the most talked-about social network, and yet few really know what it is. MySpace bills itself as “a place for friends,” and the site attempts to be everything that social networking currently offers. You can use MySpace.com to create a blog, share digital images with family or friends, write e-mail and instant messages, watch and share videos, participate in knowledge-sharing through forums, and more.
A lot of people are discovering, seemingly for the first time, that the Internet can be used for much more than browsing and sending e-mails. With the number of people online continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, finding like-minded people is becoming easier, and MySpace has capitalized on the trend of providing a place for people to interact.
MySpace's popularity has been bolstered by the number of celebrities that have set up MySpace.com blogs or personal spaces.
Rock groups, politicians, radio personalities, newscasters — a range of celebrities now use MySpace.com to communicate with their fans or constituents. College students, too, have adopted MySpace.com as a way of connecting with far-flung friends. One of the key attractions of the MySpace experience is that it's easy to comment on anyone's contribution to the site. Thus conversations and relationships are started easily.
But for anyone who is less than thrilled by the idea of forging meaningful relationships through cyberspace — and there are many — MySpace.com will probably be little more than a curiosity.
Q: I'm a business person. What can social networks offer me?
A: Social networks, which have to include many discussion forums online, can help you improve your skills and make connections. If you're a professional in just about any field these days, it's likely that there's some discussion group online that is engaged in talking about and finding solutions for some of the problems you face. Sites like Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com), Tribe (http://www.tribe.net), and Ryze (http://www.ryze.com) focus on enhancing business relationships and expertise.
But you can use any social network to create a profile, including a resume, that is designed to be seen by prospective employers or used by colleagues. In addition to posting a resume, you might create a profile that includes samples of your work, downloadable digital content or other information that might benefit you as a business person. Social networks, in other words, provide free Internet space for you; they do not have to be all about chatting.
Q: Which social networks make it easiest to share photos and videos?
A: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), SmugMug (http://www.smugmug.com), and Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com) are all geared toward sharing photographs. Each lets you create networks centered on photo albums. Other networks are centered on video. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) makes its intentions clear though its tagline: “broadcast yourself.” You can have fun here just watching the many videos that individuals from around the world have posted for all to see ... or you can start your own “channel,” attempting to draw an audience around your own creations.
Grouper (http://www.grouper.com), similarly, is mostly about video. With categories such as “sexy,” “embarrassing,” “over the top,” and “short films,” the site caters to the amateur and aspiring videographer. It's easy to search for videos of a particular type here, as well.
Q: How can I find a social networking site that works for me?
A: There are several directories of social networking sites. LinkRank (http://www.linknrank.com) is one of the most comprehensive. The home page shows the current 10 most popular social networks, while categories on the right-hand side of the page allow you to drill down to social networks in particular categories, ranging from business networking to pet networking. Virtual Handshake (http://www.thevirtualhandshake.com/directory.html) is another useful listing.
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