Red, a term that comes from the Latin rete , refers to the structure that has a characteristic pattern. This definition allows the concept to be applied in various fields, such as computing (where a network is a set of interconnected computers that share information).
Social, for its part, is that which belongs to or is related to society (the set of individuals who interact with each other to form a community). The social usually implies a sense of belonging.
The notion of social network, therefore, is linked to the structure where a group of people maintain some type of link. Such relationships may be friendly, sexual, commercial, or otherwise. For example: "The village social network worked perfectly to channel solidarity with the victims of the flood" , "The family is the basis of any social network . "
The concept, however, has been updated in recent years to point to a type of Internet site that favors the creation of virtual communities, in which it is possible to access services that allow setting up groups according to the interests of users, sharing photos, videos and information in general.
The most popular social network today is Facebook, which has more than 1.3 billion users, who exchange messages and computer files. Other social networks are MySpace and Hi5.
It is possible to find social networks on the Internet that specialize in certain sectors or that aim to attract a specific group of users. LinkedIn, for example, brings together professionals and tries to foster business and job mobility.
Let's see below a summary of some of the most used social networks around the world, along with a small description of their characteristics and their objectives:
* Youtube: many people do not know that Youtube is, in effect, a social network, since it began as a free video publishing service. However, today, thanks to the apparent simplicity of its interface, the fact of being able to leave comments on a large part of the content and the possibility of transmitting live and direct video, this powerful tool allows you to communicate with people everywhere from the world and it is very beneficial for unknown artists who want to make a little place in the industry;
* Twitter: this microblogging application has been a true revelation, as it has conquered the entire planet despite its seemingly exaggerated character limit per message, which, on the other hand, has awakened in many users the challenge of making the best of it possible way every time. Twitter allows us to share our activities with a group of people at all times, with the possibility of including multimedia content. His already well-known hashtag has become part of popular language and is widely used by large companies to promote their products;
* Myspace: it is a portal especially used by singers who seek to achieve fame. On Myspace you can share music, video and photo files, meet and stay in touch with other artists, and even create blogs.