social networking
(foldoc) | social network
social networking
Any website designed to allow multiple
users to publish content themselves. The information may be
on any subject and may be for consumption by (potential)
friends, mates, employers, employees, etc. The sites
typically allow users to create a "profile" describing
themselves and to exchange public or private messages and list
other users or groups they are connected to in some way.
There may be editorial content or the site may be entirely
user-driven. Content may include text, images
(e.g. (http://flickr.com/)), video
(e.g. (http://youtube.com/)) or any other media.
Social networks on the the web are a natural extension of
mailing lists and buletin boards. They are related to
wikis like (http://wikipedia.org/) but typically do not
allow users to modify content once it has been submitted,
though usually you can publish comments on others'
submissions.
Different sites have different emphasis. For example,
(http://friendsreunited.co.uk/) (one of the earliest such
sites) focusses on listing former acquaintances;
(http://myspace.com/) is music-oriented;
(http://linkedin.com/) aims to connect business partners;
(http://del.icio.us/), (http://stumbleupon.com/) and
(http://digg.com/) are for exchanging links to favouirite
websites. There are many more.
Sometimes the social aspects are a side-effect of bringing
together people with shared interests,
e.g. (http://slashdot.org/) (IT), other times they become
more important than the original purpose,
e.g. (http://worldofwarcraft.com/) (fantasy gaming).
(2006-12-05)
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