As someone said, "Man is a social animal" and nothing proves it more than the Internet. Although at times people complained that the Internet actually was making people, and more often kids, social recluses. Things have surely seen a sea change since then. With the advent of social networking sites, you now have the option of not only keeping in regular touch with
your friends, but also making friends and even business associates with people who you would have never known from all over the globe.
The weird thing is that social networking websites are not a new concept. In fact, in the mid-nineties, Classmates.com was established. At that time, Windows was only in its infancy with only Windows 95 being launched. Since then, this site has become a well-known place where you can 'hook up' with your old school and college friends.
Since then, the social networking concept has taken off by leaps and bounds. In fact, over the years, groups of enthusiasts consistently market their networks to other social network seekers. For instance, Friendster.com. was launched in 2002. Then sites like MySpace.com, Orkut.com, a subsidiary of Google, and Yahoo's 360 also followed suit in subsequent years. In 2005, just after a decade from the launch of Classmates.com, social networking sites like MySpace were already receiving more hits than a search engine like Google. Social networking websites had finally arrived and they were here to stay.
So what has been generating this tremendous interest in social networking websites? First of all, they are a wonderful place to catch up with old folks. As an individual grows older, work and other obligations force him to move to distant places where he loses contact with most of his friends. A website like MySpace or Orkut helps him to remain in touch with them whatever the geographical distance between them.
Secondly, you get to meet new people. Unlike in other virtual communities, you can actually know the person's likes and dislikes before you send out a message to him or her. In that way, you are more secure about the person you are trying to establish a link with. Social network websites are more secure than other virtual communities because of the way the network grows. Initially, a group of founders send messages out to their friends and acquaintances, inviting them to be members of the website. The new members, in turn, repeat the process and the community grows in no time. But since every member needs to accept an invite to join the community, chances are that unnecessary elements are kept to a minimum.
These days, social networking websites are increasingly becoming specialized and are catering only to select communities. Websites now allow you to network for business issues and then other sites exist for those people who ardently follow soccer. Orkut tries to be a platform for everything, allowing users to have communities dedicated to special topics where they can meet new people sharing their interests.
Social Networking Sites Definition
Do you love using the internet to meet and talk to new people? If so, there is a good chance that you have heard of social networking websites before. If you have not, you will want to familiarize yourself with them because they are rapidly becoming the most popular way to communicate with others online.
If you weren't already aware, social networking websites are website that essentially act as an internet communities. While all social networking websites have their own rules and restrictions, many websites operate in a similar way, with similar goals. Their goals are to allow internet users to connect with other internet users online, often from all around the world. What is nice about social networking websites is that they come in a wide variety of different forms. There are many websites that are considered "general," websites. These websites do not really have any particular focus, but there are social networking websites that do have a particular focus. Those focuses often include dating, religion, and school.
If online social networking seems interesting to you, you will have to find a community to join. You can easily do this a number of different ways. By speaking to those that you know, on and offline, you could be alerted to popular social networking websites. You can also find these websites on your own by performing a standard internet search. Whether you perform your own search or rely on recommendations from others, it is likely that you will find a fairly large number of social networking websites. Just a few of those websites that may find include Classmates, Orkut, Yahoo! 360, and MySpace.
Orkut is Google's version of a social networking website. This website was created and officially launched in 2004. Orkut has a large number of member, form all around the world. What is nice about Orkut is that the system is easy to use, that is once you get in. To protect their social networking communities, a large number of social networking websites, including Orkut, have restricted access to the site. If you are interested in joining Orkut you must know someone who is already a member and they must invite you to join the community. If you do not personally know any Orkut member, there is a good chance that you could connect with and obtain an invitation from someone you meet online.
Classmates is an online social networking website that is rapidly increasing in popularity. This website focuses on connecting long lost friends or old classmates. Classmates is free to use, but you must become a paying member to enjoy many of their member benefits. These benefits include, but are not limited to, searching for old classmates, reading their profiles, requesting more information from your classmates, or even contacting them.
MySpace is another popular social networking website that can be found online. In fact, MySpace is known as being the most popular online social networking website. They currently have over one hundred million members! MySpace, like many other social networking websites allows you to create your own profile, in fact, your own personal page. Once your page has been created, you can easily invite other members to become a member of your network and visa versa. In addition to having a traditional profile page, with your personal information, you can also display a large number of pictures, video clips, and music clips. Although there are a number of features that makes MySpace so popular, the most popular reason for its popularity is that fact that it is completely free to use.
As previously mentioned, MySpace, Classmates, and Orkut are just a few of the many social networking websites that you can find online. Additional sites include FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, and more. To learn more about each of these sites or to join their community, you are advised to visit their online websites and request additional information. You should be able to find these websites by performing a standard internet search.
Both Lana Hampton & Jed Segal are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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