Social Network

Introduction to Social Networking

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among people. A social network service consists of a representation of each user, his/her social links, and a variety of additional services.

Introduction to Social Networking Sites

Social networking site is the phrase used to describe any Web site that enables users to create public profiles within that Web site and form relationships with other users of the same Web site who access their profile. Social networking sites can be used to describe community-based Web sites, online discussions forums, chat rooms and other social spaces online.

Categories Of Social Networking

• Educational Networks :

• Online Communities:

• Business Networks:

• Online Books:

• Online Videos:

• Online Music Download :

• Online Shopping:

Origin of social sites

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Fraudster, Cy World, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others.

These sites can be oriented towards work-related contexts (e.g., LinkedIn.com), romantic relationship initiation (the original goal of Friendster.com), connecting those with shared interests such as music or politics (e.g., MySpace.com), or the college student population (the original incarnation of Facebook.com).

Social Network Analysis We measure Social Network in terms of:1. Degree Centrality: The number of direct

connections a node has. What really matters is where those connections lead to and how they connect the otherwise unconnected.

2. Betweenness Centrality: A node with high betweenness has great influence over what flows in the network indicating important links and single point of failure.

3. Closeness CentralityThe degree an individual is near all other individuals in a network (directly or indirectly). It reflects the ability to access information through the network .

Types of social networkers• Alpha Socializes – (a minority) people

who used sites in intense short bursts to flirt , meet new people, and be entertained.

• Attention Seekers – (some) people who craved attention and comments from others ,often by posting photos and customizing their profiles.

• Followers – (many) people who joined sites to keep up with what their peers were doing.

Types of social networkersFaithful – (many) people who typically

used social networking sites to rekindle old friendships, often from school or university.

• Functional – (a minority) people who tended to be single-minded in using sites for a particular purpose.

Source: Of com Social Networking Sites research, September-October 2007

Some of the popular websites for social networking detailsName Purpose Est.. Date UsersBadoo General, Meet new

people & dating, 2006 159,000,000

Bebo General July 2005 117,000,000

Facebook General February 2004 908,000,000+

Flickr Photo sharing, February 2004 32,000,000

Google+ General 28 June 2011 400,000,000

Hi5 General 2003 80,000,000

Ibibio Talent based social networking 3,500,000

Myspace General August 2003 30,000,000+

Tagged General

TeachStreet Education / Learning /

Twitter General 15 July 2006 500,000,000

Communications can also fill in the social graph profile

Address Book

Calendar

AdvantagesFacilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery.

Allows employees to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links.

Provides an opportunity to widen business contacts.

Targets a wide audience, making it a useful and effective recruitment tool.

ADVANTAGESExpands market research, implements marketing campaigns, delivers communications and directs interested people to specific web sites.

Improves business reputation and client base with minimal use of advertising

DISADVANTAGEAll social networking sites are time-consuming.

Some teachers find SNs too daunting to tackle.

SNs can become addictive. They can take over your life, leaving little time for family and friends. Knowing when to stop is crucial – try to switch off!

Replication of themes from one SN to another is annoying.

DISADVANTAGEStudents become obsessed in finding their teachers on FB and intrude in teachers’ private lives.

Privacy issues with FB AND Twitter – do not accept people you don’t know or protected accounts on Twitter.

Tweet deck often has technical problems

Privacy concerns

Social networking sites provide privacy options but users are generally unaware or tend to ignore such concerns

Stalkers, terrorists, ill-doers, con-artists could benefit from such issues

Recent scandals-England :MI-6’s director’s wife puts up photos of family on facebook.

Facebook’s controversial decision to make visible relationship actions to entire social group

Future use of social network Our friends will be there where ever we need them. Universal identity and sign-in will be there Social media content appears in other channels The Perfect (Data) Storm feeds rich profiles Social graphs and interests

Explicit friends Culture of sharing

Content creation, tagging, and life streaming Behavior

Location, browsing and search history, purchases, interests

Basic communicationsEmail, IM, SMS, TwitterTracks who you email the most (Gmail had already started)Identifies who is closest to you – your “network neighbor”

Safety Issues Facebook does not have parental controls but My Space

does have parental controls MySpace requires members to be at least 14 years of

age to join their site. Facebook requires members to be at least 13 years of

age to join their site. MySpace uses IP addresses to manage their website,

track member usage and market the user information to their third party advertisers.

Facebook’s advertisers download marketing trackers or “web beacons” to your computer to identify where their ads are most effective.

Personal information collected by MySpace is openly shared among users so that they may communicate with each other. MySpace clearly expresses in their policy that you are sharing your information at risk.

All private information given to Facebook is not sold or shared with third party advertisers or marketers.

Steps to SafetyKeep personal information privateUse a nickname that doesn’t identify

location, gender, ageOnly add friends you know in real lifeAlter pictures to remove identitiesShare profile and photos only with

friendsIgnore harassing or rude commentsNever post sexually provocative photos

More StepsNever meet with someone you only know online

Don’t post information, photos, videos you may later regret

Use privacy settings to limit access

Online choices have offline consequences

Once posted it is online, somewhere, forever

What make social network viable1. Common Purpose Participants: Need to Network

and Collaborate with Others in their Field2. Critical Mass of Users: Networks are more

Viable when there are a Lot of Participants 3. Networks Need Leaders 4. Networks Need Data: Networks Should Leverage

User-Generated Data that Fuels the Context of the Conversation

5. No Participant Spamming6. Networks Need Simplicity

Good Bye

Thank You