social network

social network
social networking

   <communications> 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
   web sites.  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)