Social Networking Websites

Myspace and Facebook Represent Social Revolution and Evolution

Apr 10, 2008

Hundreds of social networking websites exist, such as Myspace, Facebook and Digg. These types are evolving from just providing content, to users offering practical help.

The power of social network lies in the sheer number of users connecting with each other. Young people are an integral part of a social revolution using the website as a central tool for keeping in touch with friends. Websites are now evolving into offering practical help by users themselves. For example, a blood group application in Facebook for tracking down blood donors with specific blood types.

In summary, site evolution is about social usefulness bringing people's opinions together.

Where are the Social Networking Sites?

Wikipedia has an extensive list of social networking sites listed according to focus, number of registered users, and age group. Main sites are Myspace, Facebook, and Digg. However, a new breed of sites, which have adopted social useful networking principles, have started to spring up. These sites act as local and national business directories, for example:

Class Shapes Social Networking Sites?

In his article “How Class Shapes Social Networking Sites," Henry Jenkins in his website discusses the role social class plays in defining which social networking site young people use. His motivation is from an essay by Danah Boyd in which she states, “Some teens are flocking to MySpace. And some teens are flocking to Facebook. Who goes where gets kinda sticky... probably because it seems to primarily have to do with socio-economic class.”

MySpace is generally seen as the "cool working-class" site for high school students getting a job after graduation, whereas Facebook started as a site for college students and is popular among professional people.

Rating the Big Three

A comparison of site traffic between Myspace and Facebook shows that Myspace has the most visitors but the latter is gaining rapidly. A year ago, Myspace was reported to be the most popular site by far in regards to unique visitors coming to the site, while Digg overtook Facebook for traffic. Social Network Critic conducted a three-way contest between the main social networking sites, judging them for functionality, user-friendliness, volume of users and internet experience. The winner was Facebook followed by Myspace, then Digg.

Online Dangers

There are concerns about the amount of information young people are putting up online. Privacy risks can be lessened by taking steps to protect personal information. Dangers of social networking include paedophilia, cyber bullying and time wasting. Long-term issues include user criticisms about companies or products, which might affect young people’s chances of seeking employment in the future.

The copyright of the article Social Networking Websites in Internet is owned by Harry P. Schlanger. Permission to republish Social Networking Websites in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.