A guide to social networking
By Natalie Bollu
If the whole concept of social networking leaves you confused, then hopefully this guide will not only help you understand what social networking is used for, but how you can use it for your own advantage.
Formally known as social networking, Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, MSN, Googlechat and Piczo have become a craze for all audiences. Myspace alone is reported to have more than 113 million accounts and with more sites being created everyday, social networking can only grow and become more advanced. The sites are used to help people to socialize, share their interests, pictures, videos, and create a profile devoted to them. However, social networking can be somewhat addictive as you begin to find old friends, share gossip with new friends and watch peoples profiles to see what their plans are for the week ahead.
Each individual creates their own personal profile, which they use to express their personality and social status. The profile describes an individual’s personality by showing personal information and what the member has interests in.
If displaying your personal information puts you off the idea of social networking then you can choose not to add personal information like your phone number, email address and what schools you have attended. If you do wish to add personal information on your profile then there is an option to set your profile to private. This enables only people you have added to your friends list to see your profile.
After setting up your account you can then choose from millions of profile designs that can make your profile stand out from others. Once your profile has a new design you can then post videos, photos, your personal status and blogs about your day. On some sites you can also add music to your profile, which can simply be your favourite song or one that reflects your personality. The music feature on some social networking sites helps both unsigned and famous music artists use their profiles to promote their music and personalities.
Of course, social networking would not be anything without adding friends. Once your profile is completed, you can then begin to add other people to view your profile. The feature allows you to search for friends and relatives worldwide or from a specific school. Once they have accepted your request it then links their profile to yours through a network of friends. Your friends can then view your profile, photos and personal information. They are then also able to send you messages, comment on your wall or comment box and on your photos. You can also rate your friends using the ‘Top friends’ application, usually the larger the list and the higher up you are in the list means the more popular you appear to be. This mostly appeals to teens to create popularity contests.
The feature to upload your own photos is extremely popular. Many people upload photos to share with their friends and relatives. Your photos can be organised into albums which people can then view and make comments on. Like your profile, you can also set different albums to private if you wish. You can also set up your account so that people have to ask permission to add a comment to your wall, comment box or blog. The wall and comment box work like MSN where people can talk to each other and view opinions about their public profile.
Social networking is not only used to socialize but also advertise films, music artists and other businesses. Blogs and bulletins are used to write about up coming events, tours, gigs or products. Blogs can also be posted about a variety of topics, such as personal interests, opinions, concerns or even as online journals.
If you are a band, writer, filmmaker or have your own business, the best way to get yourself noticed is to use the find a friend feature and search for your target audience. You can then use the messaging system to tell the public more about what you are promoting and ask for their support. You can then begin to send out bulletins, blogs and comments about your service and receive compliments, other people’s opinions and make your business well known. People use social networking for a number of different reasons whether it is just socializing, finding a partner, promoting your business, finding new music and videos or to communicate with people from across the globe.
Overall, simply by popularity, the best social networking site to use is Myspace as it offers all the features on one site. You can create a profile, change your profiles appearance, and send messages, comments, picture comments, blogs and friend requests. Myspace also enables you to search for music, artists, videos and television shows making it the complete package.
Sarah Fischer explained to us what she uses social networking for and shows a good example of a regular member.
What is your name?
Sarah Fischer
How old are you?
18
What social networking sites do you use?
What do you use the sites for?
I use the sites for contacting my friends and family.
How long have you used them for?
I have used the sites for about 7 years.
What features do you use most?
Picture comments, profile comments, email messaging and inserting pictures.
Do you find the sites easy to use?
Yes I find them all easy to use. It pretty much has labelled buttons for everything you want to do.
What do you feel is the best social networking site?
I think that Myspace is the best site.
Why do you feel this site is better than any others?
Because it's a simple but creative site, you can change your profile layout etc. and
insert pictures easily.
Why do you enjoy using the sites so much?
I enjoy using these sites because it makes it easy and efficient to chat to my friends and family whenever I feel I want to. I can also find old friends, comment on people’s profiles and pictures, find new friends and upload my own pictures so that other people can see what I look like.
