Advantages Of Social Networking

Adequately utilizing the advantages of social networking, you must understand  social networking. The definition of social networking depends on the platform used. Some variations are:

• A social network – is a platform, site or other online service focusing on building and creating networks. Some sites offer personal social relationship building, catering to individuals sharing mutual interests.  Joining various networks offers many advantages of social networking.

• A social network is – a social structure comprised of people (or organizations) called “nodes”. The group will be connected by one or more common bond such as friendship, common interests, mutual friends, family members, business, dislikes to name a few.

• Social Network is the people with whom one is connected. Pertaining to some of the best social networking sites, these digital terms are often refer to your friends (facebook), followers (twitter), readers (Blog) or subscribers (YouTube).

Advantages Of Social Networking – Social Networking Tools

Effective communication is a crucial part of social networking, either online or off line. The basic social networking tools required for online social networking are:

• Computer access -a computer is needed to communicate effectively online. If you don’t have a personal computer, public libraries offer free access.
• Internet connection – several community locations offer wi-fi, free of charge. Some of the nationally known locations are McDonald’s, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble.
• Email address – Google and yahoo offer free email accounts.

The online social network is comprised of several large well known Top Social Networks such as:

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• YouTube

• MySpace

These social networking websites create an online community of Internet users, each offering different advantages of social networking to it’s many members. Following the social network theory, members join various social networking websites, therefore, many of these online members will share a common interest. These online communities provide socialization with other like-minded individuals. Before beginning your online networking, be sure you are well equipped with the essential social networking tools. Communicating and developing these new relationships will require some time and commitment. Depending upon whether you are creating a business or a private network will be a contributing factor to your time commitment. Once you’ve joined this online community, you will begin to build your own network of friends and associates.  And you will further begin to utilize and realize the many advantages of social networking; both professionally and personally.

Social Networking Tools – Dangers Of Social Networking

There are many benefits of social networking, however, always protect yourself from the possible dangers of social networking. Always be mindful, everyone doesn’t play by the same rules as you. The online community consists of predators and dishonest people just as offline communities. Although your social networking is online, always be aware and mindful of what personal information you share while socializing and networking online. Equip yourself with the necessary social networking tools and enjoy the many advantages of social networking.

What Is Social Networking?

Social Networking. . . It's the way the 21st century communicates today. Want to know what it really means?

             Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online.

This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening, developing friendships professional alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing and even groups sharing information about baking cookies to the Thrive Movement. The topics and interests are as varied and rich as the story of our universe.

When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social sites. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users. Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share common interests in hobbies, religion, politics and alternative lifestyles. Once you are granted access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may include reading the profile pages of other members and possibly even contacting them.

The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although you are in the United States, you could develop an online friendship with someone in Denmark or India. Not only will you make new friends, but you just might learn a thing or two about new cultures or new languages and learning is always a good thing.

As mentioned, social networking often involves grouping specific individuals or organizations together. While there are a number of social networking websites that focus on particular interests, there are others that do not. The websites without a main focus are often referred to as "traditional" social networking websites and usually have open memberships. This means that anyone can become a member, no matter what their hobbies, beliefs, or views are. However, once you are inside this online community, you can begin to create your own network of friends and eliminate members that do not share common interests or goals.

As I'm sure you're aware, there are dangers associated with social networking including data theft and viruses, which are on the rise. The most prevalent danger though often involves online predators or individuals who claim to be someone that they are not. Although danger does exist with networking online, it also exists in the real world, too. Just like you're advised when meeting strangers at clubs and bars, school, or work -- you are also advised to proceed with caution online.

By being aware of your cyber-surroundings and who you are talking to, you should be able to safely enjoy social networking online. It will take many phone conversations to get to know someone, but you really won't be able to make a clear judgment until you can meet each other in person. Just use common sense and listen to your inner voice; it will tell you when something doesn't feel right about the online conversations taking place.

Once you are well informed and comfortable with your findings, you can begin your search from hundreds of networking communities to join. This can easily be done by performing a standard internet search. Your search will likely return a number of results, including MySpace, FriendWise, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, Facebook, Orkut, and Classmates.

Most Popular Social Networking Sites of the World

1. Facebook: To access Facebook.com, you must create an account on the site which is free. Facebook's terms of use state that members must be at least 13 years old with valid email ID’s. After updating you're details, your Facebook profile is generated. Using Facebook.com you can:

o Browse and join networks, which are organized into four categories: regions, colleges, workplaces and high schools.
o Pull contacts from a Web-based e-mail account, into Facebook.com.
o Find friends in several ways, including search engine to look for a specific person and lot more.
o Facebook has recently crossed 500 million users and is the most popular Social Networking site of the world.

2. MySpace: On MySpace, your social network starts growing from the first day. When you join MySpace, the first step is to create a profile. You then, invite friends to join there and search for your friends on already profiled on MySpace these friends become your initial Friend Space. Once the friendship is confirmed all the people in your friends' Friend Space become part of your network. In that sense, everyone on MySpace is in your Extended Network. As part of terms of MySpace, the user must be at least 14 years old to register.

3. Twitter: Twitter is a very simple service that is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about social networking service providers. When you have a Twitter account, you can use the service to post and receive messages to a network of contacts, as opposed to send bulk email messages. You can build your network of contacts, and invite others to receive your Tweets, and can follow other members' posts. Twitter makes it easy to opt into or out of networks. Additionally, you can choose to stop following a specific person’s feed.

4. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an online social network for business professionals, which is designed specifically for professional networking, to help them find a job, discover sales leads, connect with potential business partners. Unlike most of the other social networks, LinkedIn does not focus on making friends or sharing media like photos, videos and music. To start using LinkedIn you need to register and create a profile page. To register to LinkedIn, you need to provide personal information. You can update the profile with your education and job details and a summary. Additionally, you can also give and receive recommendations from co-workers and bosses. There are more than 75 million professionals registered on LinkedIn.

5. Bebo: In the United Kingdom, Bebo is the second best social network. Bebo allows users to create social networking profiles for free. It offers many of the same features as other social networking sites. You can register a free account with Bebo and upload photos, videos and information. The site lets you connect with old friends and make new ones using a unique user interface. The site boasts users from more than a dozen countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Poland, France and Germany.

6. Friendster: Friendster was one of the first Web sites to bring it into mass culture. It was designed as a place to connect with friends, family, colleagues and new friends over the Internet. However, it went beyond just a one-way communication. Using Friendster, you can connect with friends and family, meet new people through the connections you already have, find people with similar interests, backgrounds or geographical locations, join groups by activity, school or interest, interact through message posts, games, blogs and application sharing, and share your details with the Internet community.

7. Hi5: Hi5 shares many similarities with many social network sites; however, it introduces some twists that make it worthwhile for people who love trying out new and interesting online communities. However, it is not one of the popular sites in the United States. This was a strategic move from the founder, therefore, Hi5 claims around 60 million members from more than 200 countries other than the US. One of the site's biggest transformations is the addition of many entertainment options, including games.

8. Habbo: The Habbo online community is inhabited by pixelated, cartoon-character alter egos. You can meet others in public rooms (nightclubs, restaurants, shops) and create private rooms for selected friends. Habbo employees heavily moderate the site, catering to its solid teen user base. Most of the users of Habbo are between the age group of 13 – 18 years. Although, a major part of the users are from the U.S., Habbo social networks is very popular in places like the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Finland and more.

9. NING: Ning is the leading online platform for the world's organizers, activists and influencers to create social experiences that inspire action. It helps you create a safe and secure place online for like-minded people. Ning takes the idea of groups to a whole new level. The ability to create your own community makes Ning a great home away from home for organizations and groups looking to fill the social void.

10. Classmates: Classmates.com is different from most social networks, in the sense that most of its features are available to premium member. The price for premium members depends on the length of the agreement – shorter term results in a higher cost per month. Classmates.com is primarily used to reconnect with old classmates. The site features a search engine that lets you view other people who went to the same school you attended. Creating a basic Classmates.com profile is free and easy. However, most of the advanced features in Classmates.com are only available to paid users.

11. Tagged: Tagged is a blend of social networking features that MySpace and Facebook users will find very familiar. Tagged was designed to help users meet lots of new people with similar interests in a short amount of time. You can access and register directly or be invited by a friend to join Tagged. This is a free social network that allows you to view your friends’ newly uploaded Tagged photo album. Tagged encourages its users to meet strangers based on shared interests, with the idea of growing your network to meet as many people as possible.

12. myYearbook: myYearbook, the best place to meet new people and one of the 25 most-trafficked sites in the United States. myYearbook has Flash-based games, and the games incorporate Lunch Money (the myYearbook virtual currency). It includes a virtual economy through which people can purchase of gifts which members send to each other. Lunch Money is also donated by members to their favourite charity. In 2010, myYearbook donated money to the Haiti Relief Fund to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

13. Meetup: Meetup is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. It makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

14. MyLife: MyLife (formerly Reunion.com) is a social network service. MyLife can search over 60 social-networking sites and other information resources on the Web. MyLife searches the web to deliver accurate and timely results. Even in cases when you don't immediately find who you're looking for, MyLife continues searching and provides updates and alerts. MyLife suggests friends and contacts you may know based on your profile information and existing contacts. It also intimates you when someone else is looking for you. MyLife gives you a global view into the most popular sites your friends are part of, including LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace as well as 50 other sites.

15. Flixster: Flixster is a social networking site for movie fans. Users can create their own profiles, invite friends, rate movies and actors, and post movie reviews as well. From the site, people can also get information about movies, read user-generated movie reviews and ratings, converse with other users, get movie show times, view popular celebrity photos, read the latest movie news, and view video clips from popular movies and TV shows. Flixster.com also operates leading movie applications on Facebook, MySpace, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

16. myHeritage: MyHeritage is a family-oriented social network service and genealogy website. It allows members to create their own family websites, share pictures and videos, organize family events, create family trees, and search for ancestors. There are more than 15 million family trees and 91 million photos on the site, and the site is accessible in over 35 languages.

17. Multiply: Multiply is a vibrant social shopping destination, but faster and more convenient, where sellers and buyers interact. A user's network is made up of their direct contacts, as well as others who are closely connected to them through their first-degree relationships. Users are also encouraged to specify the nature of their relationship with one another, making it possible to share content based on relationship. Many shoppers in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have made the Multiply Marketplace a favourite shopping destination.

18. Orkut: Orkut is a free social networking website where you can create a profile, connect with friends, maintain an online scrapbook and use site features and applications to share your interests and meet others. The prerequisite for logging on to Orkut is that the user must be over 18 years old. Currently, Orkut is the most popular in Brazil. The number of orkut users in India is almost equivalent to those in its original home in the United States.

19. Badoo: Badoo is a multi-lingual social networking website. It is gaining popularity in emerging markets like Russia and Brazil. The site allows users to create profiles, send each other messages, and rate each other’s profile pictures at no cost. However, features that are designed to make user profile more visible to other users are provided at a cost. Badoo includes geographic proximity feature that identifies users’ locations based on analysis of their network connection. This lets users know if there are people near their current location who may wish to meet.

20. Gaia Online: Gaia Online is a mix of social networking and massive multiplayer online role-playing games. It is a leading online hangout for teens and young adults, and offers a wide range of features from discussion forums and virtual towns to fully customizable profiles and avatars. It provides a fun, social environment that inspires creativity and helps people make meaningful connections around shared interests such as gaming, arts and anime.

21. BlackPlanet: Initially, BlackPlanet was designed as a way for African-American professionals to network. Since then, it's grown and evolved as a site operating under the principles of Web 2.0. Members can read other members' blogs, watch music videos, chat with one another, look for new careers and discuss news. Though BlackPlanet is not restricted to any community, this site is more popular amongst African-American. This site helped Obama to connect to nearly 200,000 potential supporters.

22. SkyRock: SkyRock.com is a social networking site that offers its members free web space where they can create a blog, add a profile, and exchange messages with other registered members. The site also offers a specific space for members who create blogs showcasing their original musical compositions. SkyRock is very popular in France and French speaking markets including Switzerland and Belgium. The site is also available in English, German, Dutch and Spanish. It’s very popular in the European Union.

23. PerfSpot: PerfSpot provides a web portal for people of any age, gender, or background to share their interests and favourite things on the web. PerfSpot currently publishes its site in 37 different languages, with comprehensive moderator team based in the U.S. and the Philippines that screens through up to a million pictures on a daily basis.

24. Zorpia: Zorpia.com is a social network that has a large international community. Zorpia’s features include profile customization, networking features and an incredibly detailed search. Zorpia has an impressive music section featuring popular artists like Ashlee Simpson, Vanessa Hudgens, Alanis Morissette and more. You can purchase a Royal Membership for extra networking options such as an ad–free profile, extra profile design features and unlimited messaging.

25. Netlog: Netlog (formerly known as Facebox and Bingbox) is a Belgian social networking website specifically targeted at the European youth demographic. On Netlog, you can create your own web page with a blog, pictures, videos, events and much more to share with your friends. Netlog is pageview market leader in Belgium, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey. In the Netherlands, Germany, France and Portugal, Netlog covers the second place. Pan European, Netlog is the market leader. Netlog is localized in over 25 languages, to enable users from around the world to access the network.

26. Tuenti: Tuenti is an invitation-only private social networking website. It has been referred to as the "Spanish Facebook”, by many social network watchers. It is one of the largest social networking sites in Spain. It allows you to set up a profile, upload photos, link videos and connect and chat with friends. Many other utilities, such as the ability to create events, are also offered. From 2009, utilizing a simple interface, Tuenti user can change their language to Catalán, Basque, Galician, and English. Tuenti is also available as an iPhone App.

27. Nasza-Klasa.pl: nasza-klasapl is considered one of the largest and most used social networking sites in Poland. It primarily brings together school's students and alumni. The site is in polish therefore restricting its popularity only to Poland and polish speaking people. Nevertheless, it claims to be the most popular networking site in Poland, and therefore, has found its niche in the competitive social networking space. The site where one might say, new meets old, where the intractability is like Facebook, yet traditional with old styled forums.

28. IRC-Galleria: IRC Gallery has been one of the most popular social networking sites for over 10 years, in Finland; with over 5.5 lakh registered users, 90% of which use the site regularly. IRC-Galleria is popular within the age group of 18-22. To be able to create an account with this site, at least one of the uploaded images must be accepted by the administrator. While regular users can upload only up to 60 visible images, you have the option to upgrade to VIP status that enables you to upload 10,000 visible images. Using this site, users can communicate with other users, comments on photos, and join over a 100 communities.

29. StudiVZ: StudiVZ is the biggest social networking site in Germany. It is also popular in German-speaking countries like Switzerland and Austria. This site works as a student directory in particular for college and university students in Europe. The site allows students to maintain a personal page that containing their personal information like name, age, study subjects, interests, courses and group memberships (within StudiVZ).

30. Xing: Xing, (formally known as openBC/Open Business Club) is a professional networking tool. It is popular in countries like Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and France. Xing is similar to LinkedIn and claims to have professionals from over 200 countries. Xing has two features Basic and Premium, depending on weather the user wants to use the site for free or at a cost. It is available in different languages including English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Dutch, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Hungarian; French and German being the most popularly.

31. Renren: Renren (formerly called Xiaonei Network) is one of the largest social networking sites in China, and caters to people of Chinese origin. It is very popular amongst college students. Renren also has a WAP version, which users can access through mobile phones. It features an instant messaging service for its users. Users can use the same username to log in both Renren and Kaixin. Renren appeals more to Chinese college students who use internet cafes, while Kaixin001 targets Chinese white-collar workers who have internet access at work.

32. Kaixin001: Kaixin001 is a popular professional networking tool in China. The target audience for Kaixin’s, are typically white-collar middle class who come from a first tier city. This site in China is extremely popular among people who work for multinational companies, ad agencies and other white collar companies. Kaixin001 has gained much more popularity since 2009, because social networking sites, such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were blocked in China.

33. Hyves.nl: Hyves, pronounced hives (from beehives) is the largest social network in Netherlands, with many Dutch visitors and members. Hyves Payments and Hyves Games, allows you to play games and pay friends through the social network. Hyves provides usual amenities of a social networking site, including profiles, blogs, photos, and so on. ‘Hyven’ (Hyving) became a common word in Dutch, and is gaining popularity across Europe.

34. Millat Facebook: MillatFacebook is a Muslim-oriented social networking website. Originally launched in Pakistan, it has gained popularity in Arab counties as well. This site came into existence after Facebook was banned in Pakisthan. Millatfacebook offers video chat, bulletins, blogs, polls, shout box, and customization of profile page. Members can change the page CSS and design it on their own will.

35. Ibibo: Ibibo stands for iBuild, iBond. It is an Indian social networking site. It is an umbrella site that offers a variety of applications under its social network. The services offered include games, blogs, photo unlimited storage, mail, messenger, videos, free SMS service, mail, polls and surveys.

36. Sonico: Sonico is a free-access social networking website focused on the Latin American audience. You can do a to rage of things in this site including search and add friends, interact with friends over message, update their own personal profile, manage their privacy, upload photos and videos, organize events, play games with other users. Sonico, more importantly, let’s its members more control over their profile by giving them three distinct profiles that the user can organize based on the need: a private profile, a public profile, and a professional profile. This site is popular in Latin America and other Spanish and Portuguese Speaking Regions.

37. Wer-kennt-wen: Wer-kennt-wen, is one of the most popular social networking website in Germany. It is by an invitation-only social networking website, and only for people over 14 years old. The site provides the user to write blogs, chat with friends, and write in their guestbook. It provides users a social community for people, to interact with anybody they want.

38. Cyworld: Cyworld is a South Korean social network service. It has had a big effect on Korea’s Internet culture. Many renowned Korean socialites and celebrities have accounts where they post upcoming tours and works. Cyword has networks in South Korea, China, and Vietnam and is gaining popularity across Asia and the Pacific Island. Users have access to a profile page, photos, drawings and images uploading, an avatar, neighbourhoods, and clubs.

39. Mixi: Mixi is primarily for Japanese. Mixi offers options to meeting new people, send and receive messages, writing in a diary, read and comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities and invite their friends. The site requires users to own a Japanese cell phone which bars anyone who is not or has not been a resident of Japan.

40. iWiW: iWiW (abbreviation for International Who is Who) is a Hungarian social networking web service. The site is an invite-only website, where a user can provide personal information. Users can search for friends using the search tool. iWiW allows users to log in to external websites using their iWiW credentials. iWiW is also available for iPone and Android.

Facebook vs Googleplus

With an increase of as compared to 400 thousand people, which includes one hundred fifty thousand inside the You. Azines., Fb can be a must-have to get in touch on the web. Using a "mere" ninety days thousand people up to now, Google+ cannot be an alternative regarding Fb. Yet together with fantastic layout and also special characteristics, that tends to make an excellent inclusion. In reality, inside plenty of techniques Google+ is way better.

Layout
                                       Google+ provides basic and also steady course-plotting in which also holds up to the particular cell iphone app (a lot more about in which afterwards). Any five-button food selection pub near the top of each and every site back links for the several principal parts: Residence, Photographs, Report, Sectors (good friend teams) and also Game titles. Just like Fb, Google+ features a Website focused by way of a supply regarding in depth position revisions coming from close friends. Every one of the tools—such since selection revisions simply by Eliptical or perhaps establishing any chat—live in the filter left-hand column.
Facebook’s still left column will be jumbled not merely together with good friend databases and also talk equipment, but in addition back links to be able to some other parts, for instance emails, activities, teams and also programs. The Timeline report site offers a remarkable chronology with the user’s living by means of position revisions, photographs, activities and also affiliations together with universities or perhaps careers. Success: Google+




Google+ compared to Fb(Posting )
Submitting
Equally Google+ and also Fb offer effortless approaches to discuss the proper details with all the proper folks. The essential approach could be the identical. Sort one thing and/or simply click to choose mass media, for instance a photograph. Next determine which recognizes that: Equally help make so easy together with drop-down databases regarding good friend teams in which people have got developed. Facebook’s great specific characteristics contain enabling folks, while using the Timeline see, to be able to draw a great up-date being a certain living function, together with icons for instance “Family & Relationships” or perhaps “Travel & Activities. ” Success: Attract


Revealing Mass media
               
                         Using a incredibly increasing trove regarding photographs and also video tutorials (at this time concerning 160 thousand photographs on your own), Fb can be a must-post place. Fb permits revealing images around 960 times 720 pixels, concerning seven-tenths of your megapixel. That’s great regarding looking at on the web, however, not regarding archiving high-quality replicates. Video tutorials can easily work around 20 minuets as well as the entry-level 720p HI-DEF decision Google+ will take photographs around concerning several megapixels. It may also url to images about Google’s photo-sharing web site, Picasa, in which graphic dimensions will be unrestricted. Video tutorials enjoy around a quarter-hour and also with top quality around the particular the utmost HI-DEF decision, 1080p, Success: Google+


Taking care of Close friends Together with equally Fb and also Google+, selection the particular market will be quite effortless making use of databases. Inside Fb, basically simply clicking a pal record raises what is the news nourishes for all inside the party. Any “Manage Lists” option at the top proper with the site permits selection just what appears (position, photographs, video game updates…) along with incorporating or perhaps eliminating record associates. Google+ makes use of good friend databases referred to as Sectors in which perform quite quite similar approach. Fb offers a jumpstart simply by immediately producing “Smart Lists”—with collections regarding close friends which went along to the identical university, worked well on the identical career and even are now living in the identical metropolis, as an example. Google+ won't advise Eliptical collections. Success: Fb


Pursuing Folks Getting close to 1 thousand associates, Fb provides plenty of intriguing those who can not almost all become close friends. Much like Twitting, Fb permits people to check out content coming from can not almost all become genuine “friends. ” Yet people can easily sign up to nourishes regarding an indivdual's community position revisions. Dozens of followed-but-not-friended folks show up within a record referred to as “Subscriptions. ”On Google+ any consumer also can stick to any person but in addition record these inside numerous Sectors. Success: Google+


Messaging, Talk and also Video clip Inside messaging and also talk, Fb and also Google+ are usually practically the same: Merely select a identify and also sort. Equally offer you video clip contacting. Inside Google+ It could be a great add-on to get a one-to-one talk, yet it’s furthermore regarding teams. Virtually any good friend in the Eliptical, or perhaps about virtually any ad-hoc record, can easily acknowledge a great ask with a Hangout—where every person recognizes all others concurrently. Success: Google+

Enjoyment Fb supplies a trove habit forming game titles for instance “Gardens of energy, ” “The Sims Social” and also “Cityville” (the most notable a few regarding 2011). And also key audio companies for instance Spotify and also Rdio water pump the particular identify regarding tracks in which people tune in to straight into the particular position revisions showing away from audio likes. Google+ is presents just about 25 game titles, even though that claims additional are usually via web publishers which includes EA, Playfish and also Facebook. The sole enjoyment revisions that explains to you are usually just what an individual timepieces about Facebook or perhaps listens to be able to about Yahoo Audio. Success:
                                                                Facebook.

Twitter Dangers(Be Careful your twitting)

Here are the Dangers of Twitter...

twitter danger

               Twitter is now becoming one of, if not already, the largest social media network on the Internet. In this article I will be explaining and expressing my views of the positive and also negative reasons of using this site. I will be mostly taking the viewpoint from the average user for personal use, as opposed to businesses use. Some of the points that I will later make in this article will only apply to really heavy users of twitter, so please bear that in mind whilst reading this.


What makes it different?


The main difference with twitter that separates it from other social networking sites, is that it allows the user to connect to anyone, and in doing so allows them to message or "mention" them, without any pre approval from the person the user desires to speak to. This might sound like a scary thing to be able to do to some people, and also unsettling, it is sort of the equivalent of yourself going up to someone in the middle of the street that you have never even seen before, and striking up a conversation! This is something that you either feel comfortable with doing or do not, it is entirely down to personal preference, personally I think it is a little odd, but it is a great way of speaking to people online that have similar interests to you without any awkwardness.


Twitter has a great little algorithm built into it that allows the user to find people on the twitter database that shares the same interests as the user, this is a great way to get to know people that you are likely to have good conversations with. I sometimes think of twitter as an online friend making site, because of the previously stated reason. I think its a great way to come across people that you wouldn't normally find in every day life, this is mostly because of the limits to who you can meet in the real world because of your location's reach.

twitter

However, this might all sound great, but it does have one underlying issue. The main problem that I have found and recently realized, is that sometimes, Twitter can become a little addictive. After speaking to, and reading other peoples "tweets", I have noticed that I am not alone on this matter. I think that there is a real buzz of speaking to people that you have never even heard of before and striking a conversation with someone new. This might not sound so bad until you do what I recently did and asked yourself, "What is this really gaining me in life". The true answer to that question is absolutely nothing! I think that I, like many twitter users, get so carried away with speaking to people online, that I and they forget that it can be having a really dramatic effect on your "real world" social skills and social life. The reasons for this are as follows, Twitter can be really time consuming thus keeping you away from meeting people in the real world, it can also give you a false sense of reality, making you believe that you have lots of friends when in reality you don't. I think that really heavy users of Twitter might need to take a step back and give themselves a reality check. The thing that you have to bear in mind is that 99% of the time, the people you interact with on twitter, even whether it be really regularly, you will most probably never meet them in person. This means one thing, this means that your "real world" social life cannot be improved through this social site.


Unfortunately, the bad points don't stop just yet. As I have already mentioned, Twitter is open to everyone, this results in young and impressionable individuals, to be at a high risk to "online groomers". However, there is an option for users to make the profile "by request only", which means that someone has to be pre approved before they can speak to the Twitter user. The problem with that is that many people either don't even know it exists as it is not set like that by default when the user first creates his or her account, or the user decides usually not to enable it.


Twitter for businesses, celebrities and online personalities.

twitter risk

Thankfully this article takes a more positive view form this point on. One huge advantage of Twitter being "open", is that it allows the user to get in touch, and stay up to date with their favorite celebrities or online personalties from YouTube for instance. It allows the user to even attempt to chat to someone really big in the media for instance, where else would you get an opportunity like that! It is highly unlikely that they will reply, but its worth a try! Twitter can also be a great asset for businesses to. It allows a business to create a so called "client database". The database can be used to send out offers, discount codes, news of new product releases, and also help and support. Some businesses value this database so much that on recent news a worker from an online company who gathered lots of followers for his personal account, got sued by the company of whom said that the "following" belongs to the company instead of him, even though it was his personal account. I will be unfortunately ending this piece on a negative note. This is because recently many people are trying to get traffic to their website or product page by spamming user's Twitter accounts. Twitter seems to not be able to do anything about this as any algorithm they would release would not be able to target just the spam links alone. Spamming really is making the whole overall experience of using twitter even worse.

Talking to Your Kids About the Dangers of Social Networking

Talking to Your Kids About the Dangers of Social Networking

Kids use the Internet for hours upon hours each week. They can navigate themselves very well around the World Wide Web. Kids use the Internet to research for school papers or assignments, playing games, and social networking. Just because kids know a lot about using the Internet does not mean that they know very much about Internet safety. Kids do not always know when they are in danger on the Internet. They can be very trusting. Parents need to talk to their children about the dangers involved in social networking.
What is social networking

Take care on your child

                         Kids probably do not even realize that they are “social networking” when they actually are. To them, they are just hanging out with friends using the Internet. Parents should begin by explaining that social networking is connecting with people who have similar interests, go to the same school, or are from the same place. Social networking, by definition, seems harmless, but there are a lot of hidden dangers.
What are some social networking websites
                                 Some of the most popular social networking websites include MySpace and Classmates. There are other sites, such as Facebook, that seem safer than a website such as MySpace, but it is still considered a social networking site. Though these are some of the most popular social networking sites, these are only three of hundreds of the social networking sites available online.
Sexual predators
Kids may not be aware that there are people who are online that will lie about who they are so that they can harm them. Parents need to explain that there are people online, called online sexual predators, which are very dangerous. They may seem like a friend, and slowly get personal information out of the child. Their screen names may seem like a regular kid’s screen name so they can easily trick kids who are online social networking. A sexual predator’s profile will most likely portray someone they are pretending to be, even if they have pictures.
Parents need to explain to children that it is not okay to give out personal information about themselves to people they have met online. Giving full names, addresses, school names, phone numbers, birthdays, and any other type of personal information is very dangerous. Sexual predators can use any combination of personal information to find the child and harm them.

Protecting Yourself From Social networking Scams

Protecting yourself against social engineering scams

Scam sites

                                       That’s my story so far, so now let’s concentrate on the essence of it. Even if this was all a misunderstanding the risk is real. Social networking is always a great tool for social engineers. Knowledge is power and this is especially true when it comes to social engineering. The more the social engineer knows about his victim, the more likely he is to be successful in his schemes. I am generally against monitoring and restricting but stories like this make me stop and think whether it is the right thing to do after all.

                                                        

Cash cards

                                                      What if this sort of thing were to happen to my children? What if s/he falls in love with a person of malicious intent? We all know how dangerous strong emotions can be, trying to save her/him once s/he is deeply in love will be impossible and the more you try to do to convince her/him of the mistakes s/he might be doing, the more likely it is  to drive him/her away. What’s worse is that even if you manage to expose the scam the emotional impact will certainly be devastating at this stage. On the other hand the only other option would be to switch to a 1984 state of affairs and rigorously monitor any and all communications. Both are obviously wrong.

                   

                                              And this is not just for your household; the same applies to the workplace. Over monitoring your network will have detrimental effects on the employees’ morale, and might even be illegal in some cases. However even if it were legal, would you want to monitor your employees’ communication on social sites? What about private emails? The obvious, safer solution is to disallow these sites however this will have a detrimental effect on morale too.I guess in both personal and professional scenarios your best bet would be education. Although it will not be 100% effective, some people claim that it’s not effective at all, it will hopefully make people question such events if they are aware of the risks. On the other hand, in cases such as a dating scam, the request for money will happen when it’s too late, as the person will already be too hooked to second guess anything so education is unlikely to work here.

Who’s really lurking behind that profile page?

                                              The dating scam is just one of the scams that are happening via social networking. I have heard on a first hand basis of people being scammed for many things. Malicious people making friends with victims and after a while say that they have to drop out of school because they can’t afford it. In some cases the victims themselves offer to help out financially and are thus scammed of their hard earned cash without  even having to be asked to hand over money. At the end of the day social networking is a haven for con artists. Con artists can befriend their victims very safely. You become friends to a profile in essence and there is no guarantee that the profile has any truth to it whatsoever. If a con artist is patient he can build a good trust relationship and then spring any number of traps – from fake lucrative investment schemes to a great opportunity that cannot be passed by.

                                    Finally I caution you to not make the classic mistake of thinking that this could never happen to you or your loved ones. I urge you to always be on guard. Furthermore it might be a good idea to warn friends and family about the dangers of social networking. When I explained the dating scam/human trafficking risk to my friend her answer was, ‘I didn’t know that this happens on the internet’ which is a common and ultimately understandable stance. People who aren’t in IT wouldn’t automatically think of these issues unless they experience them firsthand and by then it will be too late.What do you think? I would love this to turn into a debate on the different views regarding social networking. Which method would you choose to protect yourself and others, both at home and professionally? Do you think that the blocking option is the right way to go? Monitoring perhaps? Or do you believe that education is effective enough to be the only safety mechanism in place?

The Uses of Socialnetworks

Social networks

Social  networking is  the  grouping  of  individuals  into  specific  groups,  like  small  rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online.

Social media

This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences  about  cooking,  golfing,  gardening,    developing  friendships  or  professional  alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing and even groups sharing information about the end of the Mayan calendar and the Great Shift to arrive December 21, 2012. The topics and interests are as varied and         rich as the story of our universe.

Google plus

   
                                  When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social sites. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users. Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share common interests in hobbies, religion, or politics. Once you are granted access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may include reading the profile pages of other members and possibly even contacting them.

Social
History

The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although you are in the United States, you could develop an online friendship with someone in Denmark or India. Not only will you make new friends, but you just might learn a thing or two about new cultures or new languages and learning is always a good thing.


As mentioned, social networking often involves grouping specific individuals or organizations together. While there are a number of social networking websites that focus on particular interests, there are others that do not. The websites without a main focus are often referred to as "traditional" social networking websites and usually have open memberships. This means that anyone can become a member, no matter what their hobbies, beliefs, or views are. However, once you are inside this online community, you can begin to create your own network of friends and eliminate members that do not share common interests or goals.


 As I'm sure you're aware, there are dangers associated with social networking including data theft and viruses, which are on the rise. The most prevalent danger though often involves online predators or individuals who claim to be someone that they are not. Although danger does exist with networking online, it also exists in the real world, too. Just like you're advised when meeting strangers at clubs and bars, school, or work -- you are also advised to proceed with caution online.

You tube

By being aware of your cyber-surroundings and who you are talking to, you should be able to safely enjoy social networking online. It will take many phone conversations to get to know someone, but you really won't be able to make a clear judgment until you can meet each other in person.   Just use common sense and listen to your inner voice; it will tell you when something doesn't feel right about the online conversations taking place.

Social links

Once you are well informed and comfortable with your findings, you can begin your search from hundreds of networking communities to join. This can easily be done by performing a standard internet
search.  Your  search  will  likely  return  a  number  of  results,  including  MySpace,  FriendWise, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, Facebook, Orkut, and Classmates.

Why children should not give out personal information

What is personal information

Personal information

First and foremost, parents need to explain to their children what kind of information is personal information. Parents cannot teach their children not to give out personal information if children do not understand what that information actually is. Personal information can include a lot of different things. Social Security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, and credit cards definitely fall under the category of personal information. 

                                      But so do things such as school and neighborhood information or descriptions, city or town information, family information such as the number of children and names of family members, passwords, pictures of themselves or family members, what the child looks like, or their age and birthday or gender.

Online Devil

Why children should not give out personal information

Children seem to be more trusting online. If someone they did not know were to call them on the phone and ask for their age, and gender, and their address, they would most likely be less willing to give this person the information, no matter how nice the person was to them while on the phone. But if someone, who is considered a new friend, were to ask them the information online, children would be more likely to give   them personal information.

In the introduction section people can introduce themselves.This can be very nice.
When somebody reveals too much information this can lead to annoying situations.
It still happens that people visit the location of other internet surfers.It happens too that people try to ruin other peoples life.And it happens that people use all sort of means to try to control what another person does.And personal information can help a person with bad intentions to get grip on the life of somebody else.When names of other personal websites and social 

Save the Child

network pages are given out it is possible for other people to combine the information in the different profiles.This can make it possible for other people to find a lot of information about somebody else on the internet.It seems that a lot of people don't realize that other people can read profiles.The combination of information in different profiles on different websites and on several network pages can lead to a lot of detailed information.

Someone Watching

                                This means that a person is not as anonymous as the person might think and wish.The question might be raised wether or not this is a problem.However, this is not the first question to address.Another question is if the person who posts on a forum like knowledgesutra is aware of the risks and the possibilities other people use to find personal information.If somebody is more or less completely aware of the possibilities the internet offers and of the risks that are involved by being a surfer on the internet the risks might be under control.Supposing somebody is not aware of the risks the internet exposes and the risks of posting on a forum like knowledgesutra it seems an act of social behaviour to warn this person.This can be seen like frightening people without reason.It can as well be regarded as the task of somebody with experience and knowledge of internet activities to warn other people.So like everything else in life it is probably a thing about callibrating the arguments pro and contra a certain action to see if it is needed to warn somebody else.

On the other hand some people only realize the problems the internet can cause in the life of somebody when it is too late.This means that already something happened that the person doesn't like.So even when a warning seems overdone and without reason it can still be necessary and helpfull to tell other surfers and other members of a forum like knowledge sutra about the risks that are involved with posting.This is a personal opinion.

Dangers of Giving personal information on Socialnetworking Sites

Sharing information on internet is not a big deal today when you have youtube,facebook and a lots of other community websites where you can meet other people and share your personal information but sometime sharing personal and confidentialinformation can be dangerous in an era where everybody is trying to save him/her self from theft, internet frauds and many other types of hacking and cracking tricks. There are lot of hacker are sitting out there and looking for your personal information to make you money less.

There will be no use of crying over spilt milk. I am sharing this information with you guys. I hope this video will help a lot of people to rethink about their community oninternet.

Dangers of Information Sharing on Internet

dangers of facebook

Today, Safer Internet Day, the European Commission is passing a message to teenagers: "Think before you post!" It welcomed actions to protect children using social networking websites taken by the 20 companies who signed the Safer Social Networking Principles last year. Most of these companies have empowered minors to tackle online risks by making it easier to change privacy settings, block users or delete unwanted comments and content. Yet more needs to be done to protect children online, the Commission says. Less than half of social networking companies (40%) make profiles of under-18 users visible only to their friends by default and only one third replied to user reports asking for help.

“If we want children to think before they post, social networking companies should post the right information using the right language. Last year the European Commission urged companies to act, and I am glad that many have heeded this call," said EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding. "However I expect all companies to do more. Minors' profiles need to be set to private by default and questions or abuse reports have to receive quick and appropriate responses. The internet is now vital to our children, and it is the responsibility of all to make it safe.”

At last year's Safer Internet Day, social networking companies recognised the need for young users – and their parents – to feel safe when socializing online and signed the Safer Social Networking Principles. These resulted from discussions set up by the European Commission in April 2008 with social networking sites, NGOs and researchers. 18 companies signed the Safer Social Networking Principles in February 2009 and were joined by another two in June 2009.

password hacking

One year on, the Commission has published a report on the implementation of the Principles on the 25 sites run by the signatories – Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, YouTube, Hyves, Windows Live, Xboxlive, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Piczo, Rate.ee, Skyrock, SchülerVZ StudiVZ MeinVZ, Habbo, IRC Galleria, Tuenti, Yahoo!Answers, Flickr, and Zap.lu.

Findings show that 19 out of 23 sites provide safety tips and information specifically targeted towards children and/or teenagers (this measure is non applicable for 2 services). This information is both easy to find and easy to understand on 14 sites: YouTube, Habbo Hotel, Hyves, IRC Galleria, MySpace, nasza-klasa, Netlog, One, Rate, SchülerVZ, Skyrock, Yahoo!Answers, Yahoo!Flickr, Zap.

The report also shows that most of the companies empower minors to deal with potential online risks and employ a safe approach to privacy by:

Making it easy for users to block other users and remove comments from their profiles;

Making privacy options easy to change so that users can choose whether only their friends or the entire world can see what they post online;

Giving users control over the display of their online status (which allows other users to see whether they are online or not).

However, there has been less systematic implementation of other equally important measures designed to protect privacy:

blogging

                         40% of social networking sites assessed make minors’ personal information visible only by their friends by default including: SchülerVZ, Facebook, Tuenti, Giovani, Flickr, Yahoo Answers, One, Habbo, Windows Live and MySpace

Only 11 out of 22 make it impossible for the private profiles of minors to be found through search engines including: Arto, Bebo, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Piczo, SchülerVZ, Windows Live, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo!Flickr and Zap

While 19 sites out of 25 have a link for reports available at all times, only 9 (out of 22) responded to complaints submitted during the assessment including: Arto, Dailymotion, YouTube, Habbo Hotel, Hyves, IRC Galleria, MySpace, Rate, Windows Live. There is therefore an urgent need for better services to respond to users' reports asking for help.