What is social networking?

Social networking is a new way of communicating that has become a part of daily life for many people. The possibilities for keeping in contact with old friends, new friends and organizations are staggering.

A social networking profile, properly maintained, can be used to find and keep in contact with people all over the world. Social networking sites are part of the so-called Web 2.0 along with blogs like LiveJournal, other methods of linking in a professional or personal sense like LinkedIn or Twitter, as well as bookmark-sharing sites like Del.icio.us or Digg.

In a practical sense having a profile on a site like Facebook or Bebo will consist of finding friends, sharing photos and making comments on their page or sending them messages.

Here are some websites that may be helpful in explaining the concept of social networking:

Apophenia: working definition of social networking

Detailed definition of all facets of social networking:
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/11/10/social_network_1.html

Your Guide to Social Networking online

Good background on the history and development of social networking:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/08/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_so_1.html

What is web 2.0?

Excellent and comprehensive article on the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Great if you are really struggling to get your head around the concept of Web 2.0:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Wikipedia: Social Networking Service

Wikipedia entry on social networking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking