We need to separate two ways that people talk about 'online social networking'
An activity or set of activities people engage in
The use of a series of specific online tools and platforms.
Online social networking activities
A person's social network consists of all those people with whom they have a connection (e.g. family members, friends, teachers, work colleagues, etc.). Social networking involves creating new connections and keeping in touch with existing ones. When these activities happen through the internet then we call it online social networking.
Online social networking tools and platforms
For at least the last 20 years people have used tools like e-mail and instant messaging to keep in touch with friends, family and other contacts. 'Online social networking' refers to internet tools like Facebook, MySpace, Hyves and LinkedIn. These modern social networking sites have specific features for creating and communicating with a network of contacts (friends). It is these features and the ways in which they work which leads to some of the most interesting implications of online social networking.
Here is a commoncraft video that introduces some of the key concepts:
The central bit of a social network site is the personal profile. Thanks to Tim Davies, here's a picture of a FaceBook profile, showing some of the features.
Facts and Figures
Usage of Social Network sites has exploded in the last two years, and is part of a major change in the way that people are using the Internet. Here is a slide presentation that includes some of the extraordinary statistics and trends. It also talks about the implications for product marketing and advertising but many of the ideas are also very relevant to NGOs and other Civil Society organisations, especially their use as Influencer Channels.
Links
Resources about non-profit and developmental uses of social networking applications tagged in del.icio.us; you can contribute to this list by bookmarking related links with the tags 'npk4dev' and 'social_networking':
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