Social network service
From Computing and Software Wiki
SNS (Social Network Service) is the application service that helps people builds online social communities where they share interests and/or activities. Most SNSs are web based to provide a variety of ways for users to communicate or interact, such as social network websites, e-mail, SMS (short message service), and blogs.
List of Social networking websites
Contents |
History of SNS
The early years, SNSs were in the form of generalized online communities where people interact with each other through chat rooms, and later on, some websites focused on ties with friends by linking people together via email address. The first recognizable social network site "SixDegrees.com" launched in 1997, it focused on indirect ties, it combined all the former features with its new features, it allowed people to create profiles, list their friends, surf the friends list, and surf the network that connects people in the same school or with similar interests together. However, while the website attracted lots of users by these new features, it failed to become a profitable business and was shut down in 2000, even the owner believes that it was simply ahead of time.[1] As time goes by, the launching of Ryze.com helped people leverage their business networks, but it never acquired mass popularity. In 2002, Friendster as one of the three most popular SNSs has been launched, unlike the usual online dating sites, Friendster was designed to help friends-of-friends meet, which is based on the assumption that would make better romantic partners than would strangers, but many early users left later on due to technical and social difficulties that the site encountered. Between 2003 to 2007, more and more SNSs emerged, which made the SNS hit the mainstream, such as MySpace, Bebo, and Facebook, they all grew rapidly. MySpace was reportedly getting more page views than Google. In 2006, Facebook opened up to the college communities outside US, plus allowing add-on applications that developed externally, it became the largest and fastest growing site in the world.
The basic concept of "Six-degree of separation"
The idea of SNS is based on the concept of “Six degrees of separation” which introduced by Stanley Milgram, the social psychologist at Harvard University. Simply say that “if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth.”[2] [br clear = all/]
Pros and Cons of SNS
Pros
- SNSs can have a positive effect for easier communication to your friends, family, or colleagues. Students could discuss school work by having a conference in a certain site instead of meeting in a certain place, therefore saving time and effort.
- Computer-Mediated Communication allows people to find or reconnect with friends from the past whom they may have lost contact with.
- Literally saying that, the number of people that you can meet or connect with is unlimited on SNS sites.
Cons
- Since social network service commonly use online profile to establish connections and meet friends, they have also become likely places for personal identity theft and fraud. As people have to provide certain infromation such as name, address, phone number and contact information, and these information will always be there as long as the users are still using the service, so others may use these important information and pretend the person who provides those information to do some illegal activities.
- Social networking sites could be addictive for the young and old. There are usually instant messaging features as well as video and picture features so that everyone on your network can keep up to date with what you are doing. These sites come equipped with various accessories and add-on applications to make your time online not so much productive, but fun.[4]
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Web 2.0 and Social network service
Web 2.0 is a term coined by Tim O'Reilly. It redefines the interactions between Internet and users and brings about a new Internet ecosystem, the framework of it hinges on Participation, Openness and Decentralization. The concepts of Web 2.0 have led to the developement and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications[3], therefore SNS is the service or application site of Social Network that applying the concepts of Web 2.0. It is in people's instinctive nature to connect with each other, SNS creates a big and lasting market for community services, and the convergence brings about multiple channels and platforms for facilitation of social network (not to be confused with SNS).
Milestones of Social network service
• “Concept of six-degree of separation” was
introduced in 1995
• Friendster launched and became popular
• The Tim O’ Reilly coined term, Web2.0, becoming
popular from 2003/2004
• Cyworld Korea became popular in 2003 and
became Product of the Year in 2004
• Cyworld launched in China, Japan, US, Taiwan
and Vietnam in 2005 and 2006
• Acquisition of Myspace by Newscorp (2006)
• Mixi listed in Japan (Aug 2006) with
over US$1 Billion market cap
• Yahoo acquisition discussion with Facebook
(2006)
• Another UGC(User Generated Content) megadeal: Google acquired
YouTube (Oct 2006)
See also
References
1. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007, p.3)
2. Wikipedia contributors, "Six degrees of separation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Six_degrees_of_separation&oldid=282380925 (accessed April 8, 2009).
3. Wikipedia contributors, "Web 2.0," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Web_2.0&oldid=282443635 (accessed April 8, 2009).
4. Star-Publishing, "Social Networking Websites: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly", http://stluciastar.com/content/?p=2652
External links
--Shensw 23:59, 7 April 2009 (EDT)
