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Social network service

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A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people.

While it could be said that email and websites have most of the essential elements of social network services, the idea of proprietary encapsulated services has gained popular uptake recently.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category divisions (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook widely used worldwide; MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America; Nexopia (mostly in Canada); Bebo, Hi5, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), Decayenne, Tagged, XING;, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, Xiaonei and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands.

There have been some attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate entries of friends and interests (see the FOAF standard and the Open Source Initiative), but this has led to some concerns about privacy.

For more information about Social network service, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with social networking sites

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Tagged.com settles with NY, Texas in invite fight

Technology / Business

created 9 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- The social networking site Tagged.com has adopted reforms on the use of invitation e-mails after an attorney general alleged that the Web site essentially stole the identities of some 60 million Internet users.


Twitter user list favors Dems in Calif. gov race

Technology / Internet

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(AP) -- When people sign up for Twitter, the popular social-networking site presents a list of suggested users to follow, driving significant traffic to sports figures, celebrities, politicians and other prominent posters.


Berlin Twitter Wall lets people write on wall

Technology / Internet

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- The Berlin Wall is gone, but people can still tag their memories on it online.


Newspaper column sparks Twitter rage, complaints (AP)

Singer death column sparks Twitter rage

Technology / Internet

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Britain's press watchdog said Monday it had received a record 21,000 complaints about a newspaper column on the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately after critics used Twitter to brand the article ...


Monitoring social networking sites could prevent suicide

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Analysing posts on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook could help to prevent suicide, according to two Victoria University researchers.


Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says Twitter is still looking for ways to make money despite taking the world by storm

Twitter still seeking ways to cash in

Technology / Internet

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Micro-blogging pioneer Twitter is still looking for ways to make money despite taking much of the world by storm, co-founder Biz Stone said.


Can social networking help consumers get healthier?

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Can social networking sites help people make wise health decisions? A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says it depend on people's willingness to take action on the information they gain from the sites.


Twitter's becoming an important tool for job seekers and employers

Technology / Internet

created Oct 09, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

As the Internet's microblogging superhero Twitter continues to balloon with 40 million users worldwide and countless apps like Twhirl and TweetDeck, the Twittersphere has been overrun lately with refugees from the real world's ...


More than half of US companies do not allow employees to visit social networks such as Facebook while at work

No Facebook at work in most US companies

Technology / Internet

created Oct 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

More than half of US companies do not allow employees to visit social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter while at work, according to a new survey.


Hot micro-blogging service Twitter was experiencing technical problems on Thursday

Twitter goes down, users 'tweet' about it

Technology / Internet

created Oct 08, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Twitter went down on Thursday prompting devotees of the micro-blogging service to share how they coped without it.


Are mobiles and social networking sites changing the way we behave?

Are mobiles and social networking sites changing the way we behave?

Technology / Other

created Oct 08, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- How dependent have we become on mobile phones, and are social networking sites changing the nature of our relationships with other people? A three-year Oxford University study is to address ...


Prof Warns of Risks  on Social Network Sites

Prof Warns of Risks on Social Network Sites

Technology / Internet

created Oct 07, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The data that can be easily extracted from people’s online social networking activities could be either a blessing or a curse, says a UT Dallas researcher.


New study examines benefit of internet access, social media networking on seniors' health

Medicine & Health / Health

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Many elderly adults are increasingly isolated and grapple with depression, loneliness and declines in physical health. The UAB Department of Sociology and Social Work will use a five-year, $1.9 million National Institute ...


Prison guards demand right to complain online

Technology / Internet

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- A group of prison guards dubbed the Facebook Five has gone to an Australian court to fight for the right to complain about their boss on the Internet.


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Facebook says it passed key financial milestone

Technology / Internet

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Facebook Inc. said Tuesday it achieved an important financial milestone, bringing in more money than it spent in the last quarter. The social networking site previously had said it didn't expect to ...