Social Networking & Social Media

Contents:
Introduction Communication Social networking Instant Messaging - Chat Location-based social networks Collaboration Social bookmarking (or social tagging) Social news Cloud document and note syncing Groupware Forums - Discussion Groups Others (Patients, Dating, Moms, Q&A, ..) Design Tools Users & Demographics Reference/Links	Blogging Blog Sites Content Management Systems (CMS) Microblogging Events Information Aggregators/ Personal web portal Multimedia Livecasting Music and audio sharing Photography and art sharing Video sharing Presentation sharing Webinars - Internet Conferencing
Introduction: Social networking has exploded in the last few years. Below are the top 100 . See Social Media at Wikipedia for more. Social Network Sites (SNS)* are are a sub category of Web 2.0 (User Generated Content) websites. It is a reader pull model (readers decide if and when to look at content which stays up indefinitely) rather than an author push model, like email which was the dominant person-to-person e-communication platform. Social media refers to the fact that they frequently contain images and video. Initially used for communications with family and friends, social networking has been credited with playing an integral part in the overthrowing of dictators in the Middle East, known as the Arab Spring in in 2011. This is a U.S. list; There are sites in the top 20 not listed here, which are popular mainly in Europe, Asia or South America.. Most work on your laptop or PC but some like the Location services are designed for mobile devices (phones and tablets). Top 25 Social Networking Sites (xx) - U.S. Ranking amongst all web sites [xx] - Millions of unique monthly U.S. visitors. Source: Quantcast a/o Feb 2012 * The popularity of sites is constantly changing so "top 100" is used loosely here. Sites: Communication
Social networking: - Facebook [160](3) - linkedin [38](10) - myspace [16] (107) - Google+ [12] Tagged [4] (281) Meet people, social gaming, topical discussion groups my life [5] (1,481) - orkut - Plaxo Instant Messaging - Chat - AIM Formerly AOL Instant Messenger - Google Talk (Win only) - Google Chat (gMail) - iChat (Apple) (Mac only) - FaceTime (Apple) Skype Yahoo Messenger - Windows Live Messenger formerly MSN IRC Internet Relay Chat Top 5 Instant Messaging Clients Webinar Web Conferencing services Internet Phone Services IM and Chat Location-based social networks: Facebook places - foursquare (625) Google Latitude Yelp [17] (182) See location mapping here and Location-based service at Wikipedia	Blog Sites: These are places you can set up your personal blog (blog hosting), not to be confused with the big blogers like The Huffington Post, Engadget, TMZ, ... - blogspot or blogger [64] (12) - WordPress.com [18] (26) - LiveJournal [5] (76) - TypePad [10](105) - Xanga (768) - Technorati largest blog search engine - RSS - Subscribe to a blog (see below) Content Management Systems (CMS) used to set up blogs - Drupal - Wordpress.org - MovableType.org - joomla.org See Blogs Microblogging: - twitter [250] (9) - tumblr (46) - foursquare (625) - posterous Events: - Meetup [8] (739) - Doodle Scheduling Yelp [17] (182) Eventful, The Hotlist,
Collaboration: Social bookmarking (or social tagging): - StumbleUpon [18] (108) - delicious [6] (272) - BuzzFeed [15] (632) - tweetmeme [5] (426) - Fark [1.8] (2,120) - google reader - friendfeed [1.5] (686) - BlinkList - Share and save your web links. - ChimeIn [0.3] (5,825) Social news (sometimes included in above): - digg [25] (139) - reddit [16] (115) - Mashable [3] (206) - slashdot News for nerds [1.7] (1,254) - newsvine -[1.4] (3,388) news & bookmarks See news page Cloud document and note syncing: - Google Drive - dropbox (224) evernote (1,186) springpad Groupware - Group collaboration software: Not generally considered social networking, I guess because there's a more formal structure and groups are usually smaller 12-100 people. They are typically set up for clubs, organizations and special interest groups. They usually have an email list (or list server), calendar and document sharing. - Yahoo Groups - Wiggio - Ning GroupSpaces See: Usenet Groups (NetNews) Besides Yahoo groups what other site has groups? - Yahoo! Answers Work in Groups - EContent Magazine Group collaboration software	Multimedia: Livecasting: - YouTube [450] (2) Skype, blip.tv Music and audio sharing: - Pandora Radio [28] (349) - Yahoo Music [27] - LastFM [14] (552) - MySpace Music [6.5] Others Photography and art sharing: - picasa - flickr [18] (52) - Instagram [2.5] (663) (#4 app on smart phones) - pinterest [16] (88) - Photobucket [16] (64) - DeviantArt Webshots [5.8] Shutterfly [4.2] SmugMug [3.5] Note: You can also share photos on sites like Facebook, Tumblr and others See Photo Sharing Video sharing: - YouTube [450] - vimeo [17] - Dailymotion France [27] - viddler Presentation sharing: - SlideShare Prezi, scribd, Webinars - Internet Conferencing: These range from simple multi-user chats on Skype to on-line presentations where power point presentations are observed by all participants, to group collaboration where multiple people can update a document in the cloud. See Webinar Web Conferencing services
Forums - Discussion Groups: These are typically not thought of as social networks because they are not individual based but topic based. - Google Groups is the current incarnation of pre-WWW services usenet / netnews which became dejavu. There are thousands of Internet forums or discussion groups today. Technology (software and hardware support), video games, sports, music, fashion, genealogy, religion, and politics are popular areas for forum themes. There is no dominant forum platform. phpBB, FUDforum and others provide software you can download to your own web site. Proboards, ZetaBoards, Tal.ki and others will host your forum on their web sites. Some popular forums:
www.artsandlettersdaily.com - Intellectual www.cafemom.com - Mothers www.joblo.com/forums - Movie forum www.muzicforums.com - Music genforum.genealogy.com/surnames - Genealogy	www.androidtablets.net/forum androidforums.com www.ipadforums.net www.uspoliticsonline.com www.forumboard.in/forum.php
Others: Community Support Sites - Patient blogs for sharing progress on an illness. Top 15 Most Popular Dating Websites. See Online dating Social networking for Mom's: Top 10 Social Networking Sites for Women at mashable.com - CafeMom - Moms Connecting About Pregnancy, Babies, Home, Health, ... (1,492) - iVillage.com: Health, Beauty, Pregnancy, Entertainment, Women's Community, ... Community Q&A:
- WikiAnswers - Ask Top 15 Most Popular Reference Websites	- Yahoo! Answers - Quora - eHow
Information Aggregators/Personal web portal: - Netvibes My Yahoo! iGoogle Miscelaneous: - Windows Live™ Spaces was transitioned to WordPress.com in 2010 - Fanpop - Fan clubs for everything. - (1,326) - ycombinator Hacker News Hi5 In 2008 it was as one of the top social networks, In 2010 it was bought by tagged. - www.apple.com/icloud - Syncs music, pictures, calendar, etc. between iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook, ... (Was MobileMe) You will often see the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) icon associated with SNS. RSS is not a SNS, but many blogs are set up with RSS feeds so you get updates automatically. See Using Social Media Sites As "RSS Readers" - Online Collaboration Design Tools: - designmoo A website dedicated to giving designers a place to share resources. Users can post fonts, icons, ... - designfloat Web design news & tips - behance.net An online portfolio platform for creative professionals, including photography, graphic design, illustration, ... - feedburner.google.com a web feed management provider - ShareThis - Provides code to add to your web site to create a share button. Aimed at advertisers and publishers. BitTorrent - Sharing and Download engine for music, software, ... Spokeo - Lists Social Network sites for individuals and has a list of Social Netw Sites Major Social Network sites bebo Hi5 - Multiply allows users to share videos, photos (unlimited), blogs as well as shop and sell in a large online marketplace. bought by Tagged. Multiply - Multiply allows users to share videos, photos (unlimited), blogs as well as shop and sell in a large online marketplace. Answers.com is a wiki Q&A combined with free online dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedias. Buzznet is a photo, journal, and video-sharing social media network. Members participate in communities that are created around ideas, events and interests. IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IMVU is a social game and entertainment site where millions of people meet, chat, play games and have fun. Netlog is a European youth-oriented online community available in over 20 languages where users create profiles, join groups, post blogs and media. BlackPlanet is a social networking site targeted to the African American community with music, jobs, forums, chat, photos, dating personals and groups. Kongregate is an online gaming site where users can upload and play flash-based games, earn points and rewards for high scores and discuss in user forums. Blogging * Rankings come from several sources, Alexa, SiteAnalytics @ Compete.com and Quantcast, so results may be inconsistent. They are only general guidelines.
A Case Study in Social Media Demographics \| OnlineMBA Mar., 2012 SNS uses, 67% - Stay in touch with friends 64% - Stay in touch with family 50% - Reconnect with old friends 14% - Connect with people who share similar interests 9% - Make new friends 5% Read comments from celebrities, athletes or politicians 3% - Find potentially romantic partners	At "The new normal in the digital age", Pew's Internet & American Life Project says, Networked creators are everywhere (two-thirds of adults; three-quarters of teens) 66% of int. users are social networking site users 55% share photos 37% contribute rankings and ratings 33% create content tags 30% share personal creations 26% post comments on sites and blogs 15% have personal website 15% are content remixers 14 %are bloggers 13% use Twitter 6% location services 9% allow location awareness from social media
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
According to Nielssn in 2011 social media represents 22.5% of the time Americans spend online. They spend 9.8% on online gaming, and just 7.6% for email. On a typical day, 43% of online adults use social networking. According to a 2012 Pew study 63% of teens exchange text messages, while only 6% exchange email. There were 245 Million Internet Users in the U.S. in Feb., 2012. The percent using each Social Network Service (SNS) was: 64% Facebook 26% Twitter 25% BlogSpot 15% Linkedin 6% MySpace Note: These kind of stats are tricky. Average users tend to access SNS sites more frequently (typically several times a day) than others such as shopping sites, so total visits may be a higher percentage. The number of visitors in any given time period may be lower, because a few people people visit infrequently. Social networking sites accounted for 5% of internet traffic in 2006 (when MySpace accounted for most of it). Source: Social Networking Sites in 2006 \| SearchRank Blog In May 2011 SNS accounted for 16% (Mashable) to 22% (Nielsen) of time spent online. In 2011 SNS was the #5 most popular online activity (65% of Internet users do it) behind, email (92%), searching, news and shopping (71%), according to Pew Internet & American Life Project Reference: eBiz\|MBA top 15 Social Networking, Video, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Image Hosting, Music, Dating SocialTimes - Your Social Media Source The Top Social Networking Sites Top social networking sites in the World Top 10 Best Social Networks on Pikimal Social Media at Wikipedia Wed usage stats: Alexa, SiteAnalytics @ Compete.com and Quantcast List of social networking websites with user count - Wikipedia How Three Entrepreneurs (And One Huge Company) Built Empires On Social Commerce \| LinkedIn What is a Blog? : @ProBlogger "Students Addicted to Social Media - U. Maryland Study". April, 2010. The Perils of Social Media Connectivity: You Just Can't Quit - DailyFinance What are the best organizational tools for groups? - O'Reilly Answers Cloud Computing Social Media at Mashablle.com Americans Use Social Media More Than Anything Else Online according to Nielson Sept, 2011 Social Networking at the The Pew Internet & American Life Project Top 5 Instant Messaging Clients @ Web-Abet Klout measures your influence on your social networks. Social Networking links at the Sierra Club Icon Search Engine \| Iconfinder Web Icons Return to web last updated 25 Mar 2013