Social media and social media networks are terms you have probably heard often, but do you understand them? What is social media networking? What is a social media network? What are the top social media networks?
Social Media v. Social Networking
Social media is a platform to transmit information to people you may or may not know. Social media network sites like Facebook or Twitter allow you to create an account and share information. The people you choose to have in your social circle on these platforms are up to you. For example, you can only allow people you know in real life or people you have never met.
Social media allows you to share all kinds of information:
- Updates about your life
- News stories that interest you
- The video that you find engaging, entertaining, or informative
- Pictures that belong to you or others
- Links to sites or stories that you want others to see
- Your opinion on topics or other people’s posts to organize a movement, share information, or inform others
Social networking refers more to engagement. Groups with similar opinions and purposes can create virtual networks across their communities or the globe using social media platforms. For example, organizations such as Amnesty International, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders have a presence on social media networks to interact with a community of people who support their cause and raise awareness of the issues they champion.
With social media, information is a one-way communication. However, in a social networking situation, communication is generally two-way, with people joining to further the goals of a group or to spread an idea.
Top Social Media Network Sites
According to Business Insider, the top social media networking sites take on a more global flavor. Sites that get much attention, such as Pinterest and Twitter, are on the smaller end of social networks. In addition, new apps and platforms focused on Asia are gaining in popularity, and messaging apps that allow for a global audience, such as WhatsApp, are also gaining in the audience.
According to Business Insider, some top social networks are as follows. Remember that this is not a comprehensive list of social media networks but simply some of the largest.
- Facebook allows users to share almost any kind of media, play games, and interact. Users can set up personal or business pages to engage with their audience.
- YouTube. This is a video-sharing site. Users can share videos on almost any topic if they do not violate copyright laws.
- Chinese-based sites such as Qzone, Sina Weibo, and Tencent Weibo are gaining popularity.
- WhatsApp. WhatsApp’s global messaging app allows users to share information with anyone instantly.
- Tumblr. Owned by Yahoo!, this microblogging site allows users to share almost any digital content easily.
- LINE. Created in Japan, LINE allows users to download an app and then make phone calls or send messages from their smartphones to any other user worldwide.
- Twitter. Users create accounts and share short (140 – 280 characters) messages with people worldwide. Most users interact publicly through “tweets,” though direct messages are possible.
- LinkedIn. Linked In is a social networking site for business professionals. Interactions on this site are professional and business-like. The intent is for people of similar industries to interact and share information.
- Instagram. This is a photo-sharing app acquired by Facebook. Instagram allows users to publicly or privately share photos and short videos with their friends.
- Pinterest. Users can create a board on which they can “pin” content. Like a virtual bulletin board, users can view other people’s boards for personal events like weddings, home decorating, education ideas, remodeling, or virtually any other topic possible. Pinterest is a way to share content and reference content you want to use again in the future.
- Vine. Users create and share short videos, usually less than 10 seconds.
- Snapchat is a photo-sharing application that allows users to take photos or create videos and share them with a selected list of recipients. Users can draw on the photos and add text or audio before sharing. One of Snapchat’s appeals is that the media “disappears” from the user’s phone, preventing further sharing or taking up memory on the phone.
What Are the Dangers and Benefits of Social Media and Networking for Individuals?
Social media and networking have a wide range of benefits for individuals.
- Enables you to reach a broad audience for your cause.
- Keeps you in touch with family and friends
- Allows you to share information freely with the network you choose
- Meet new people from around the world.
- Engage with people on fan pages whom they might not ordinarily be able to meet.
- Allows for the exchange of information to further education, freedom of speech, and public knowledge
- Engage with people who offer products and services you would like but are located outside of your community.
- Interact with people who have careers similar to yours to gain new employment.
- Increase your knowledge and job skills, or even learn a new language. The way you can interact with people is almost endless.
We might be tempted to overshare our personal information with many benefits. So, what should you avoid when using social media?
- Limit how much private information you post publicly. Your address, phone number, or place of employment is information that people who need it should already have. There is no need to post it where virtually anyone can see it, and it can lead to identity theft.
- Update your privacy settings. Some social media platforms will allow you to tweak these settings and limit how publicly you share information.
- Do not post information that could be embarrassing to you or your place of employment. You may find yourself without a job if your employer dislikes the image you portray via social media channels.
- Remember that once you place something on the Internet, it is forever. You may delete an embarrassing picture or post, but it has already been copied, shared, and sent to others. It exists on their pages even if you have deleted the original.
- Beware of offers that sound too good or people you cannot contact – especially if they require financial assistance. It could very well be a scam.
- Always supervise your child’s social media use. Children, even on child-centered “safe” social media platforms, can be targeted by pedophiles. Parental supervision on the Internet is critical to maintaining your child’s safety.
How Do Businesses Use Social Media?
Individuals are just some of the ones with a social media presence. Businesses have learned that social media can help them sell their product to an ever-increasing global audience. As the price of international shipping falls, the ability of a business to reach across the globe has increased. According to Forbes Magazine, companies use social media in the following ways:
- Small upstart businesses use the platforms to reach a large international audience and compete with their established competitors.
- Listen to customer complaints and rectify problems with service or products to suit the consumer better.
- Advertise their goods and services through a variety of channels.
- Some businesses create short, funny, or poignant video advertisements that they hope will “go viral,” meaning that they are shared repeatedly on social media by thousands or millions of individual users. Campaigns such as this generate buzz about their product.
What Are Some Other Unexpected Uses of Social Media?
Governments and international organizations have embraced social media to leverage information. Consider some of these uses:
- Police worldwide have used social media sites to engage with and catch sexual predators.
- Local police departments can post pictures of suspected criminals gathered from crime scene videos to lead to identification and arrests.
- The United States Library of Congress archives every public tweet to create an extensive repository of public information, allowing researchers to track and examine global events and trends.
- Governments around the world regularly monitor social media sites for evidence of planned terrorist attacks.
- Public health and government officials can disseminate information quickly in a crisis to increase public awareness and safety.
- Up to 27% of American adults report getting most of their news from social networking sites.
- Social media can fuel political and social revolutions, such as the Egyptian Revolution and the Arab Spring. This is a real threat that some governments, such as China and North Korea, prevent access to sites such as Facebook and Twitter to stem the flow of information and prevent similar political revolutions.
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