Social networking

 

 

Social networking History of Social Networking Examples of Social Networking Privacy and Safety Issues With Social Networking The Future of Social Networking Group members Sources

 

History of Social Networking

 

 Social Networking was first recognized in 1997 in a website named, SixDegrees.com. This website allowed users to create profiles, list friends, and surf the network. Yes, there were websites at this time like dating sites, AIM, and other instant messaging programs that allowed you to have friends, but SixDegrees.com was the first to combine them all and allow your friends to been seen publicly. This network did flop in 2000; the founder believed it was because it was before its time. Other social networks did pop up soon after and rapidly.

•    1997- 2001 – Many social services formed in which had many combinations that supported profiles and public friends. Examples: AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente
•    1999- The launch of LiveJournal
•    2001- Rize.com was formed but never become very popular
•    2002- The rise of Friendster the popularity of this social network grew rapidly but this was a problem due to the fact that it encountered many glitches because sever was not equipped to take the rapid growth.
•   May 2003- Friendster had 30,000 users
•    2003- Myspace.com gave rise. Co-founder was Tom Anderson instantly became competition with Friendster. Myspace.com became a hit for the teenage crowd and especially for indie-rock bands. It was later purchased by News Corporation for $580 million
•   Early 2004- Facebook.com launched; at this time it was only open for students in Harvard. In order to have a page you had to have a @harvard.edu account. This eventually was spread to colleges throughout the nation
•    Fall 2005- Facebook.com was supported by high schools
•    September 2006- Facebook.com was open to everyone

 

Examples of Social Networking

1. Myspace
2. Facebook
3. YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Privacy and Safety Issues With Social Networking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Future of Social Networking

 

 

Hot Today, Not Tomorrow?

 

    The Future of social networking is often debated as to what direction it will head or whether or not these popular social network sites will remain as popular as they are for long. Within the past year, News Corp. paid $580 million last year for MySpace and Facebook recieved $25 million in venture capital. With this newly found money, both of the "big dogs" are sure to continue growing and finding new ways of marketing and promoting their sites. However, these two sites could be part of a fad just as many things in the technological world often are. Many media experts claim that it won't be long until the next best thing appears online and users switch to that and abandon their Myspace and Facebook accounts.

 

 

Cell Phones

 

     With the introduction of internet on cell phones in recent years, many teens find themselves saved as they now can access the internet while sitting in the car or at the local ballet with their parents. Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, and many other cell phone service providers have already made it so that Facebook can be accessible from the phone web browsers. Users can constantly update their "status" or profile pictures when not at home--thus keeping them in touch with home when they might be all across the world. Myspace has taken the cell phone internet plunge as well, but only with cell phone provider Helio. This gives Facebook the advantage as Helio's contract holders are nowhere near Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint's.

 

Advertising

 

     With free subscriptions and millions of members, one often wonders as to how these sites make any money. The answer is advertising. By selling block advertising and banner ads to small time companies, the sites remain profitable as the servers are relatively low cost. However, the future lies in big time companies investing in advertising on these top rated websites. Many big name companies such as NBC and Paramount have used advertising on social networking websites as the 70 million members on Myspace and the 10 million plus members on Facebook are all potential customers for the season premiere of the fall's hottest show or the summer blockbuster. Myspace is unique in this way as many times the home page is transformed into a complete advertisement for a movie or TV show complete with previews for the week's biggest movie.

 

Copy Cats?

 

     As the sites struggle for new ideas on how to keep their subscribers entertained, they often look to each other. Myspace recently added features to their site that allowed members to update their "status", something that Facebook is famously known for. Myspace also now allows users to tag photos, showing readers which people are in which picture--another popular feature of Facebook. Facebook has often been criticized for adding new "applications" that remind users of the way Myspace sometimes worked. It appears as if the two will play a game of tag as they try to keep up with each other as time progresses.

 

Which One Will Be Popular?

 

     It is estimated that there are over 200 social networking sites out on the internet right now. That number is most likely a low estimate. Following a seemingly exponential trend, the growth of different types of social networking sites seems to lead the next question. With Facebook ultimately becoming the "new Myspace", one cant help but to wonder what will become the "new Facebook". Many people wonder if there will even be a "new Facebook" or if the fad of social networking sites will soon die due to boredom. It is hard to justify this opinion seeing as the constant flow of money allows the social networking sites to continuously update the features on their sites. Being able to buy more server space means users being able to upload more and more photos as time progresses. This is something that sites like Webshots and Photobucket only allowed for paid subscribers. With the free subscriptions and continuous growth, it is easy to see that it will be long before social networking sites go away.

 

 

 

 

Group members

 

• Latavia Steele
• Sarah Selz 
• Kyle Blair
• Michael Andrews

 

 

Sources

    1. Myspace, Facebook, and Other Social Networking Sites: Hot Today, Gone Tomorrow?  Knowledge at Wharton.

    2. Social Network Service  Wikipedia.

    3. Impacts of social networking -- Moreover

Source Name	Page #	Quote
Encyclopedia of Stars	44, 46	"The stars are the heavens"