5. Social networking sites

Name of the driving force
Social networking sites

What is it?
Social networking sites are used by users to build online profiles and share interests or activities. Users can share information with friends, or find old friends, colleagues and family to connect. Some of these sites also enable users to send instant messages to each other. Social networking sites are viewed with the use of a web browser.

Enablers

• Web browser
• Social network site profile
• Internet connection
• Trust of information flow between network site and user.

Inhibitors (what can stop or slow the driving force down)

• Privacy issues
• Social aspects (use of informal language in a professional environment).
• Child safety issues

Experts

Very first social networking sites:
1. The Well (well.com)
2. The Globe (theglobe.com)
3. Geocities (Geocities.com, now under Yahoo)
4. Tripod (tripod.com now under Lycos)

Timing

There are a lot of different social networking sites for different purposes (i.e. LinkedIn for professional use, or Hyves for personal use.) People are nowadays aware of the different possibilities that the network sites offer. The next step should be the integration of the network sites into each other.

Web resources

Top ten review of different social network sites: http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/
Paper about social networking sites: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
List of social networking sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
Which network sites are popular and where? http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/infographie/2008/01/14/reseaux-sociaux-des-audiences-differentes-selon-les-continents_999097_651865.html#ens_id=999297