A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
Social networking has created powerful new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people, and it now seems that social networking will be an enduring part of everyday life. The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust.
Structure of Social Networking Website
In general, social networking services allow users to create a profile for themselves, and can be broken down into two broad categories: internal social networking (ISN) and external social networking (ESN) sites, such as Orkut,MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. Both types can increase the feeling of community among people. An ISN is a closed/private community that consists of a group of people within a company, association, society, education provider and organization or even an “invite only” group created by a user in an ESN. An ESN is open/public and available to all web users to communicate and are designed to attract advertisers.
Some 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. Geo-social networking co-opts internet mapping services to organize user participation around geographic features and their attributes. Ex. Collegespeaks is a student online community which allows them to share their view about their colleges. It also has a huge database of Indian colleges with an easy search interface. Moreover it allow colleges to develop their own websites with unlimited online space.
There is also a trend for more interoperability between social networks led by technologies such as OpenID and OpenSocial. Some social networks have made special provisions for impaired visitors.
There are few Web 2.0 development firms in India aggressively engaged in the social netwroking website development. They have successfully done many Web 2.0 projects. The success of a networking website depends on the User Interface design which helps user to navigate easily on the website. The social networking website design should be simple yet appealing. It can have many utilities to engage the user but it must be kept in mind that it should not make the website heavy and must function properly.
