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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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Facebook Lite

Facebook Lite On its Way

Technology / Internet

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The social networking site Facebook has begun testing a simpler, no-frills alternative to its regular interface. The cleaner, uncluttered interface is particularly aimed at entry-level users ...


Online social networks leak personal information to tracking sites, new study shows

Technology / Computer Sciences

created Aug 24, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 4

More than a half billion people use online social networks, posting vast amounts of information about themselves to share with online friends and colleagues. A new study co-authored by a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic ...


Microsoft unveils motion control for Xbox 360 (AP)

Microsoft unveils motion control for Xbox 360

Electronics / Consumer & Gadgets

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 3

(AP) -- Gamers, get ready for your close-up.


Researchers were still able to find the deleted photos 30 days later

Social networking sites 'keep deleted photos' - research

Technology / Internet

created May 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

User photographs can still be found on many social networking sites including Facebook after people have deleted them, British researchers said Thursday.


Facebook logo

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 ...


carrier pigeon

Carrier Pigeon Faster Than Broadband Internet

Technology / Telecom

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- In South Africa, a carrier pigeon carrying a 4GB memory stick proved to be faster than the ADSL service from the country's biggest web firm, Telkom. Winston the pigeon took one hour and eight ...


Campus Party, the world's biggest on-line electronic entertainment festival in Valencia

Cyber-criminals targeting social networks: experts

Technology / Internet

created Jul 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites are inceasingly being targeted by cyber-criminals drawn to the wealth of personal information supplied by users, experts warn.


Study finds widespread privacy failings in online social networks

Technology / Internet

created Jul 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Furious competition between social networking sites is compromising the protection of users' data, a Cambridge University study has concluded.


NY official: Tagged site stole identities

Technology / Internet

created Jul 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- New York's attorney general charged Thursday that Tagged.com stole the identities of more than 60 million Internet users worldwide - by sending e-mails that raided their private accounts.


Risks of sharing personal genetic information online need more study, bioethicists say

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Jun 05, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

With just $399 and a bit of saliva in a cup, consumers can learn about their genetic risk for diseases from breast cancer to diabetes. Now, thanks to social networking sites set up by personal genomics companies, they can ...


Employees at work in the Facebook headquarters

Americans spending more time on social networks: study

Technology / Internet

created Jun 03, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The number of minutes Americans spent on social networking sites nearly doubled in the past year with Facebook and Twitter enjoying explosive growth, according to a new study.


Google logo

Google increasingly battles Facebook in search

Technology / Internet

created May 25, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(AP) -- Google has identified social networking sites like Facebook as growing competitors in search, a company spokesman said Monday.


Pope 2.0: Vatican launches Facebook application (AP)

Pope 2.0: Vatican launches Facebook application

Technology / Internet

created May 22, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (3) | comments 7

(AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI has entered the world of social networking sites and smartphones with a Vatican portal that includes Facebook and iPhone applications.


A screen grab of Maria Amelia Lopez's blog

'World's oldest blogger' dies in Spain at 97

Technology / Internet

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

A Spanish great-grandmother who billed herself as the "world's oldest blogger" and who gained a global following on the Internet, died Thursday at the age of 97, local officials and reports said.


yahoo meme

Yahoo is Going Portuguese Hound to Outwit Twitter

Technology / Internet

created May 15, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Brazil, a Portuguese speaking country is the 10th largest economy in the world and Yahoo has decided to get in on the action by coming up with a clone Twitter. The economic down-turn has affected Brazil to ...