Social network service
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A social network service is social software specifically focused on the building and verifying of online social networks for whatever purpose. Many social networking services are also blog hosting services. As of 2005, there are over three hundred known social networking web sites. MySpace, Facebook and Friendster are some well known examples.
There have been some attempts to standardize these with the FOAF standard but this has led to some privacy concerns.
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[edit] Business applications
Social networks connect people with all different types of interests, and one area that is expanding in the use of these networks is the corporate environment. Businesses are beginning to use social networks as a means to connecting employees together and helping employees to build profiles. This makes them searchable and enables users to be connected with other business professionals.
One example of a business social network based in the USA is LinkedIn, a network that connects businesses by industry, functions, geography and areas of interest. Whilst in the UK an emerging online networking service is Bizmeed, which has similar tools to Linkedin, but is developing a live video conferencing feature, as well as actively promoting Bizmeed members through search engine optimisation .
Networks are usually free for businesses or at a low cost; this is very beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses are expanding globally, social networks make it easier to keep in touch with other contacts around the world.
[edit] Medical Applications
Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners.[1]
The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately "32 percent of their marketing dollars" in order to influence the opinion leaders of social networks.[2]
Examples of medical social networking sites are Konnects, Sermo, and Within3.
[edit] Typical structure of a social networking service
[edit] Basics
In general, social networking services, such as MySpace and Facebook, allow users to create a profile for themselves. Users can upload a picture of themselves and can often be "friends" with other users. In most social networking services, both users must confirm that they are friends before they are linked. For example, if Alice lists Bob as a friend, then Bob would have to approve Alice's friend request before they are listed as friends. Some social networking sites have a "favorites" feature that do not need approval from the other user. Social networks usually have privacy controls that allows the user to choose who can view their profile or contact them, etc.
[edit] Additional features
Some major social networks have additional features, such as the ability to create groups that share common interests or affiliations, upload videos, and hold discussions in forums.
[edit] User behavior
Users often try to "collect friends", or try to be linked to as many friends as possible. Therefore, it is not uncommon for users to receive friend requests from people that they do not know. Some users will create additional profiles that assume the identity of someone else, such as celebrities, politicians, or even their pets. Some will create profiles for fictional characters, such as those from video games or Disney films (not dissimilar to role-playing), and some will even create profiles for inanimate objects, such as the Sun or the dwarf planet Pluto.
[edit] Privacy issues
On large social networking services, there has been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Be aware of data theft, etc or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace, often work with law enforcement to prevent such incidents.
In addition there is the wider privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individuals behaviour on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken.
The assumption is that such organisations are benevolent, honest and harmless (we know from history that this is not always the case) yet we unthinkingly provide details of our religious, political views and even sexual preferences on such social networking sites. We reveal things about ourselves which we would not feel comfortable telling to a stranger. A computer screen displaying neat web page graphics misleads us into a false feeling of safety and properness about those behind the web page.
In addition there is an issue over the control of data - information having been altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties.
[edit] Investigations
Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, has been used by police and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court to determine an appropriate sentence based on a defendant's attitude.
Facebook, an online facebook and social network service, is increasingly being used by school administrations and law enforcement agencies as a source of evidence against student users. The site, the number one online destination for college students, allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These pages can be viewed by other registered users from the same school which often include resident assistants and campus police who have signed-up for the service.
[edit] References
- ^ Social Networking: Now Professionally Ready, PrimaryPsychiatry.com website.
- ^ Social Networks Impact the Drugs Physicians Prescribe According to Stanford Business School Research, Pharmalive.com website.
