Learn more about what social networking is in this article.
Social networking is the use of dedicated applications to interact with other users online, normally family, friends, relatives, colleagues, clients, or users with similar interests to one's own. The purpose of social networking was to allow people to keep in touch with each other regardless of their location. Common social networking sites, such as Facebook and Instagram allow people to share information about their lives.
Each user on a social networking site usually has their own profile with a profile picture. Their profile page usually contains information about themselves, such as who they are, their recent posts, their date of birth, their friend list, and more. Once a user has signed up on a social networking site, they can customise their profile, including the background and profile picture, send friend requests to people they know, and alter other settings, such as the publicity of their profile.
Advantages and Disadvantages Of Social Networking
The advantages of social networking are:
It allows people to keep in touch with each other. Regardless of their distance, people can send their family, friends, relatives, colleagues, clients, or users with similar interests messages emojis, images, and videos.
It allows people to sell items. On Facebook, people can sell their items on Facebook Marketplace. In addition, selling on Facebook is free.
It offers easy methods of communication. People can post messages, images, and videos, and these will be seen by everyone on that page immediately. In addition, people can send each other private messages through social networking if the conversation is about something that should not be visible to everyone.
The disadvantages of social networking are:
Privacy risks. The use of social networking makes it easy for people to accidentally share personal information in posts or on their profile, such as addresses, telephone numbers, and financial details.
Risk of cyberbullying. Social networking sites are reported to be where most people experience cyberbullying.
Risk of misinformation. Since it is possible for anyone to post something on social networking sites, it can cause people to believe things that are not true.
Risk of distraction and procrastination. Social networking is one of the most common distractions that people experience when completing work, especially when they receive a new message. This can lead to procrastination and cause people to avoid tasks and responsibilities.
Tips When Using Social Networking
Keep your profile private. If your profile is public, anyone could look you up and there is a chance that there may be information on your profile or posts that you do not want people you don't know to see. In addition, if your profile was public, it could appear in search engines and become a target for cyberbullying.
Do not send or accept friend requests from people you don't know. Having a stranger that you have never met in person as a friend is not a good idea as everything you post is viewable by everyone on your friend list. This could compromise your privacy as they may find out personal information that you do not want them to know.
Do not overshare information about yourself. Avoid sharing your personal information, such as your phone number, real address, email address, or sharing pictures of your home that could allow others to identify where you live or steal your identity.
Be cautious about links. Avoid clicking on links on social networking sites that look suspicious. These links might contain malware or other harmful content.
Use a strong password. Strong passwords that contain a mix of letters, numbers, and other characters are recommended as they reduce the chance of unauthorised access to your social networking account.
Think before you post and avoid posting disturbing or inappropriate content. Before you post, think whether it is something you wouldn't mind if everyone saw. If not, then refrain from posting it. Although posts can be deleted, they can be screenshotted and shared by people all around the world.
Difference Between Social Networking and Social Media
Social networking and social media are slightly different terms. Social networking is mostly used to build a network of people, such as two-way communication and relationships, whilst social media is mostly used for communications and marketing. For example, the social networking part of Facebook is the adding of friends and the social media part is the user's posts.
History
Social networking is beneficial for users, since it allows them to share information and send messages to each other, which can be viewed by multiple users at the same time. In the mid-1990s, when the World Wide Web became more popular, it was possible for users to create webpages, but it lacked community features. In the 2000s, when social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter were introduced, the internet became much more popular. As of now, Facebook is the most popular social networking site with over 2 billion registered users.
