Social

network
What is social
network?
 The social network is a very useful invention of the 21st
century. Nowadays millions of people use social networks. It is
an Internet site that gives us a chance to support various
contacts, keep friendly relationships with classmates,
acquaintances. More functional social nets allow watching
photos and video films, to listen to music and so on. There is a
possibility to enter different interesting groups. There exist
social nets connecting people according to a general interest, for
example, computer games players are combined into a social
net.
Definition
 A social networking
service (also social networking
site or social media) is an online
platform which people use to build
social networks or social
relationships with other people
who share similar personal or
career interests, activities,
backgrounds or real-life
connections.
Most popular social networking sites by
country Facebook VKontakte QZone Odnoklassnik i Instagram No data
The most famous
social networking
sites.
 This is easily the largest social networking site in the world and one of the most widely
used. And, Facebook was perhaps the first that surpassed the landmark of 1 billion user
accounts.
Apart from the ability to network with friends and relatives, you can also access
different Facebook apps to sell online and you can even market or promote your
business, brand and products by using paid Facebook ads.
Recently Facebook has lost the trust of millions of its users by allowing 3rd parties to
access over 87 million users’ personal data. This is a massive breech of trust and has
created a feeling of unrest amongst the social media platform’s audience. So much so
that there is now a #deletefacebook campaign where people are completely removing
themselves from Facebook and using other networks instead. If you’re concerned about
what Facebook is doing with your data, then why not check out my guide on alternatives
to Facebook, and see if there’s a better place for you to interact with family and friends.
 Despite having been acquired by Facebook in 2014, this instant messaging
platform exists as an independent entity.
It arrived on the scene much later than Facebook, but has been able to capture the
imagination of millions of people across the world by giving them the ability to
communicate and share instantly with individuals and groups. The WhatsApp call
feature is just the icing on the cake!
 Like QQ and WeChat, QZone is yet another social
networking service developed by Tencent. It enables you
to share photos, watch videos, listen to songs, write blogs,
maintain diaries and so on. It also empowers you to
choose the accessories and customize the look and feel of
your QZone webpages.
This is an all-in-one communications app for messaging and calling
(similar to WhatsApp) that enables you to connect with the people
of your choice. It was also developed by Tencent in China and can
easily work alongside QQ. As per the BI intelligence report, the
number of WeChat users are fast catching up with the number of
WhatsApp users.
This social networking site enables you to post short text messages (called
tweets), containing a limited number of characters (up to 280), to convey
your message to the world. With the growing craze for online shopping,
Twitter also makes it possible to promote your businesses and even shop
directly through tweets.
Instagram was launched as a unique social networking platform that
was completely based on sharing photos and videos. This photo
sharing social networking app thus enables you to capture the best
moments of your life, with your phone’s camera or any other camera,
and convert them into works of art.
This is possible because Instagram allows you to apply multiple filters
to your photos and you can easily post them to other popular social
networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. It is now part of the
Facebook empire.
Skype, owned by Microsoft, is one of the most popular communication-based social
networking platforms. It allows you to connect with people through voice calls,
video calls (using a webcam) and text messaging. You can even conduct group
conference calls. And, the best part is that Skype-to-Skype calls are free and can be
used to communicate with anyone, located in any part of the world, over the
internet.
 This multi-lingual social platform, which is available in
more than 30 languages, is known for its instant text
messaging and voice messaging capabilities. You can also
share photos and videos and audio messages, using
Viber. It offers you the ability to call non-Viber users
through a feature named Viber Out.
 VK is one of the largest social
networking platforms in Russia and has
quite similar features to Facebook.
 LinkedIn is easily one of the most popular professional
social networking sites or apps and is available in over 20
languages. It is used across the globe by all types of
professionals and serves as an ideal platform to connect
with different businesses, locate and hire ideal
candidates, and more. It boasts over 400 million
members.
 This instant messaging network is similar to WhatsApp and is
available across platforms in more than eight languages. However,
Telegram has always focused more on the privacy and security of
the messages you send over the internet by using its platform. So,
it empowers you to send messages that are encrypted and self-
destructive. This encryption feature has only just been made
available for WhatsApp, whereas Telegram has always provided it.
 This is an American social networking site for
people who love movies and want to connect
with like-minded people by sharing their movie
reviews and ratings. Its users are likely to learn
about movies and get information about new
movies.
 YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing social
networking site that enables users to upload and share
videos, view them, comment on them and like them.
This social network is accessible across the globe and
even enables users to create a YouTube channel where
they can upload all their personally recorded videos to
showcase to their friends and followers.
 Classmates allows users to find, connect and
keep in touch with friends and acquaintances
from school and college. It is also possible for
users to upload their yearbook from their school
years.
 This photo-sharing social media site, which is
available in more than 20 languages, is ideal for
users’ daily dose of inspiration or motivation. It
enables users to view and share highly inspirational
images with their friends.
CONNECT TO OTHER PEOPLE ALL
OVER THE WORLD
One of the most obvious pros of using social
networks is the ability to instantly reach people from
anywhere. Use Facebook to stay in touch with your
old high school friends who've relocated all over the
country, start a Google Duo chat with relatives who
live halfway around the world, or meet brand new
people on Twitter from cities or regions you've never
even heard of before.
EASY AND INSTANT COMMUNICATION

Now that we're connected wherever we go, we don't

have to rely on our landlines, answering machines or
snail mail to contact somebody. We can simply open
up our laptops or pick up our smartphones and
immediately start communicating with anyone on
platforms like Twitter or one of the many social
messaging apps available.
GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS
OWNERS
Business owners and other types of
professional organizations can connect with
current customers, sell their products and
expand their reach using social media. There
are actually lots of entrepreneurs and
businesses out there that thrive almost entirely
on social networks and wouldn't even be able
to operate without it.
SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE HABITS AND
SLEEP DISRUPTION

Lastly, since social networking is all done on some

sort of computer or mobile device, it can sometimes
promote too much sitting down in one spot for too
long. Likewise, staring into the artificial light from a
computer or phone screen at night can negatively
affect your ability to get a proper night's sleep.
DISTRACTION AND PROCRASTINATION
How often do you see someone look at their phone?
People get distracted by all the social apps and news and
messages they receive, leading to all sorts of problems
like distracted driving or the lack of gaining someone's full
attention during a conversation. Browsing social media
can also feed procrastination habits and become
something people turn to in order to avoid certain tasks
or responsibilities
INCREASED FEELINGS OF SOCIAL ISOLATION
Since people are now connected all the
time and you can pull up a friend's social
profile with a click of your mouse or a tap
of your smartphone, it's a lot easier to use
online interaction as a substitute for face-
to-face interaction. Some people argue
that social media actually promotes
antisocial human behavior.