Overview
According to the dictionary the definition of social networking is “the development of social and professional contacts; the sharing of information and services among people with a common interest”. The definition in regards to computers is “the use of Web sites or other online technologies to communicate with people and share information, resources, etc.” There are hundreds of network sites that cover all types of interests and help friends and strangers connect based on shared interests or activities. Some of these sites are geared towards diverse audiences and others attract people based on shared religious, sexual, racial or nationalities. Some sites allow the person to post blogs, upload pictures and videos. Social networking is the easiest to understand. Social networking or social media are sites that allow global communications such as Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, Skype and LinkedIn and dating stes such as E-harmony. These sites provide the opportunity for strangers that would not have met otherwise, to commutate and share information. The people on some of these social network sites or, SNS, already know the people they will be communicating with and might not be looking to extend
their circle of friends. These sites will vary as to what a viewer will be able to see, such as LinkedIn, based on whether they have a paid account or Facebook which by default, users who are part of the same“network” can view each other’s profiles unless the owner of the profile has decided to deny permission to those in their network.
In the early 1970s, CompuServe was used as a business oriented computer communication solution but expanded into the public domain in the late 1980s’. CompuServe allowed members to share files, access, events and interaction. Users had the ability to send messages and join discussion forums. In 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess created Bulletin Board Systems, or BBS. This allowed people to log on using a terminal system and allowed users to communicate using a central system where they could download files or games. Christensen came up with the name from the community bulletin boards that were used in the front of supermarkets, libraries and schools. With the “notion of digital meeting place in mind, Christensen and Suess set out to create the software and managed to go from idea to working bulletin board in just a month. In fact, some evidence suggests it actually took them even less time-a mere two weeks-and that Christensen and Suess extended the time frame to make the results sound more impressive”(Gilbertson, Scott, pg. 1). BBS used multiple phone lines and users could communicate with each other but, generally, was used by locals as long distance calling rates applied for people that were out of the local area. As the Internet continued to expand during the 1990s, the use of BBS declined. In the 1980s, America On Line or AOL,
and its member created communities was widely used and was able to offer GUIs or graphical user interface instead of command lines which allowed users to use their PlayNet system for games.
In 1997, SixDegrees was started using a theory that is associated with actor Kevin Bacon that believes a person is separated from another by no more than six degrees. This site was one of the first to let members create profiles, invite friends, organize groups and look at other profiles but the business failed in 2000. The founder believes that SixDegrees was ahead of its time. While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online. Early adopters complained that there was little to do after accepting friend requests, and most users were not interested in meeting strangers (Boyd & Ellison, pg. 4). The Internet site Friendster was started in 2002. Friendster used the “circle of friends” where pathways were created connecting two people were
displayed and promoted the idea that a rich online community can only exist between people that have that have common bonds.
Friendster was started in 2002 and was used as a dating site with the concept that helped friends of friends meet based on “an assumption that friends of friends would make better romantic partners than would strangers” (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 6). The site became a favorite for bloggers, attendees of the Burning Man Arts Festival and gay men but as word of
mouth and media coverage expanded, the site grew but was not able to handle the volume and regularly had technical problems. Because so many people began to use the site it changed the original intent and Friendster began restricting the activities of most users. Using the same concept as the SixDegrees website, users could not look at profiles of
people that were more than four degree’s away. In order to get around this restriction, users began adding profiles of other friends, making fake profiles, iconic fictional characters, and celebrities. These profiles were considered “Fakesters” and the company eliminated the fake profiles and in doing so deleted genuine users that chose to use non-realistic photographs (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 6).
MySpace was started in 2003 and was looking to pick up users that had left Friendster and grew rapidly due to rumors that Friendster was to begin using a fee based system. Indie rock bands whose profiles had been deleted by Friendster began creating profiles on MySpace and encouraged fans to join in order to contact them using the “Friend” feature of the site. MySpace allowed users to personalize their pages and allowed copy and paste features. By 2004, teenagers were joining in huge amounts and encouraged their friends to do the same. MySpace allowed under age user and overall the site was used primarily by musicians, teenagers and college students (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 8).
In February of 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. In the beginning Facebook was started as a SNS for Harvard students only. Originally, it was known as “The Facebook”,taking the name from sheets of paper distributed to freshman, profiling students and staff. Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one
month, over half of the undergraduate population had a profile (Boyd & Ellison, pg. 8). Facebook expanded and was able to support other schools but the users were required to have a university email address. In 2005, Facebook became Facebook.com with the purchase of the address for $200,000 and expanded to include high school students, professionals inside corporate networks, and eventually, everyone (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 8). The site is free to join and makes a profit through advertising revenue. Facebook offered stock options in May of 2012 and in the filing Facebook
noted some obstacles that they are facing including entering China. Facebook noted that it will continue to evaluate entering China, “the market there has substantial legal and regulatory complexities that have prevented our entry into China to date. The government has blocked access to Facebook to its citizens since 2009. There has been no secret to Facebook’s interest in breaking into China, which has hundreds of millions of Internet users and is relatively new to social networking but the government is suspious of platforms such as Facebook that are beyond the control of the communist government (Ford, pg. 1). The site has also struggled to make money from users who access the site from phones and mobile devices, and could be hurt if more users migrate from home computers to hand held devices (Williams, pg. 1). When Facebook began trading on May 18, 2012, the stock market saw one of the worst weeks and it is now trading for 24% below of its $38 IPO price (Shell & Krantz, pg. 1 ).
Other social networking sites have gained popularity worldwide. Boyd and Ellison noted that, “Orkut became the premier SNS in Brazil before growing rapidly in India, Mixi attained widespread adoption in Japan, LunarStorm took off in Sweden, Dutch users embraced Hyves, Grono captured Poland, Hi5 was adopted in smaller countries in Latin America, South America, and Europe, and Bebo became very popular in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and
Australia. The Chinese QQ instant messaging service instantly became the largest SNS worldwide when it added profiles and made friends visible while the forum tool Cyworld cornered the Korean market by introducing homepages and buddies” (Boyd and Ellison, pg.8).
their circle of friends. These sites will vary as to what a viewer will be able to see, such as LinkedIn, based on whether they have a paid account or Facebook which by default, users who are part of the same“network” can view each other’s profiles unless the owner of the profile has decided to deny permission to those in their network.
In the early 1970s, CompuServe was used as a business oriented computer communication solution but expanded into the public domain in the late 1980s’. CompuServe allowed members to share files, access, events and interaction. Users had the ability to send messages and join discussion forums. In 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess created Bulletin Board Systems, or BBS. This allowed people to log on using a terminal system and allowed users to communicate using a central system where they could download files or games. Christensen came up with the name from the community bulletin boards that were used in the front of supermarkets, libraries and schools. With the “notion of digital meeting place in mind, Christensen and Suess set out to create the software and managed to go from idea to working bulletin board in just a month. In fact, some evidence suggests it actually took them even less time-a mere two weeks-and that Christensen and Suess extended the time frame to make the results sound more impressive”(Gilbertson, Scott, pg. 1). BBS used multiple phone lines and users could communicate with each other but, generally, was used by locals as long distance calling rates applied for people that were out of the local area. As the Internet continued to expand during the 1990s, the use of BBS declined. In the 1980s, America On Line or AOL,
and its member created communities was widely used and was able to offer GUIs or graphical user interface instead of command lines which allowed users to use their PlayNet system for games.
In 1997, SixDegrees was started using a theory that is associated with actor Kevin Bacon that believes a person is separated from another by no more than six degrees. This site was one of the first to let members create profiles, invite friends, organize groups and look at other profiles but the business failed in 2000. The founder believes that SixDegrees was ahead of its time. While people were already flocking to the Internet, most did not have extended networks of friends who were online. Early adopters complained that there was little to do after accepting friend requests, and most users were not interested in meeting strangers (Boyd & Ellison, pg. 4). The Internet site Friendster was started in 2002. Friendster used the “circle of friends” where pathways were created connecting two people were
displayed and promoted the idea that a rich online community can only exist between people that have that have common bonds.
Friendster was started in 2002 and was used as a dating site with the concept that helped friends of friends meet based on “an assumption that friends of friends would make better romantic partners than would strangers” (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 6). The site became a favorite for bloggers, attendees of the Burning Man Arts Festival and gay men but as word of
mouth and media coverage expanded, the site grew but was not able to handle the volume and regularly had technical problems. Because so many people began to use the site it changed the original intent and Friendster began restricting the activities of most users. Using the same concept as the SixDegrees website, users could not look at profiles of
people that were more than four degree’s away. In order to get around this restriction, users began adding profiles of other friends, making fake profiles, iconic fictional characters, and celebrities. These profiles were considered “Fakesters” and the company eliminated the fake profiles and in doing so deleted genuine users that chose to use non-realistic photographs (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 6).
MySpace was started in 2003 and was looking to pick up users that had left Friendster and grew rapidly due to rumors that Friendster was to begin using a fee based system. Indie rock bands whose profiles had been deleted by Friendster began creating profiles on MySpace and encouraged fans to join in order to contact them using the “Friend” feature of the site. MySpace allowed users to personalize their pages and allowed copy and paste features. By 2004, teenagers were joining in huge amounts and encouraged their friends to do the same. MySpace allowed under age user and overall the site was used primarily by musicians, teenagers and college students (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 8).
In February of 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. In the beginning Facebook was started as a SNS for Harvard students only. Originally, it was known as “The Facebook”,taking the name from sheets of paper distributed to freshman, profiling students and staff. Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one
month, over half of the undergraduate population had a profile (Boyd & Ellison, pg. 8). Facebook expanded and was able to support other schools but the users were required to have a university email address. In 2005, Facebook became Facebook.com with the purchase of the address for $200,000 and expanded to include high school students, professionals inside corporate networks, and eventually, everyone (Boyd and Ellison, pg. 8). The site is free to join and makes a profit through advertising revenue. Facebook offered stock options in May of 2012 and in the filing Facebook
noted some obstacles that they are facing including entering China. Facebook noted that it will continue to evaluate entering China, “the market there has substantial legal and regulatory complexities that have prevented our entry into China to date. The government has blocked access to Facebook to its citizens since 2009. There has been no secret to Facebook’s interest in breaking into China, which has hundreds of millions of Internet users and is relatively new to social networking but the government is suspious of platforms such as Facebook that are beyond the control of the communist government (Ford, pg. 1). The site has also struggled to make money from users who access the site from phones and mobile devices, and could be hurt if more users migrate from home computers to hand held devices (Williams, pg. 1). When Facebook began trading on May 18, 2012, the stock market saw one of the worst weeks and it is now trading for 24% below of its $38 IPO price (Shell & Krantz, pg. 1 ).
Other social networking sites have gained popularity worldwide. Boyd and Ellison noted that, “Orkut became the premier SNS in Brazil before growing rapidly in India, Mixi attained widespread adoption in Japan, LunarStorm took off in Sweden, Dutch users embraced Hyves, Grono captured Poland, Hi5 was adopted in smaller countries in Latin America, South America, and Europe, and Bebo became very popular in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and
Australia. The Chinese QQ instant messaging service instantly became the largest SNS worldwide when it added profiles and made friends visible while the forum tool Cyworld cornered the Korean market by introducing homepages and buddies” (Boyd and Ellison, pg.8).