Social Networking
Social networking sites are websites you can use to contact friends, share music, photos and join communities of like-minded people. You’ve heard of sites like Facebook or Twitter, these are social networking sites.
Every site is different, so before joining any you should check out what’s on offer. If you’re passionate about music take a look at last.FM. It lets you create your own radio station, share songs and recommend your favourite tunes to friends. MySpace, Bebo and Facebook are probably the most popular sites for staying in touch with friends and family. Twitter acts like a blog where you can keep everyone informed of what you’re up to. Fashion fanatics can log onto Threadless and post their own designs or blog about fashion nightmares. If you want to forget about reality get lost in Second Life. It’s a 3D world where you can interact and chat to other users from around the globe. Be careful though, some people take it far too seriously and forget it’s ‘Virtual’ rather than real!
When you’re choosing a site to join think carefully about who you want to contact and who you want to contact you. Some sites only allow other users to view your profile when you have both agreed to be friends, while others allow strangers to view everyone’s postings. You need to be very careful with your profile. Would you give your personal details to a stranger in the street? Of course not, so don’t give them to people you don’t know online. Remember unless you set your privacy settings properly everyone can see your profile, including your mum, dad, prospective employer and others you really don’t want to know.
Social network sites are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family, just use them carefully. For more details check out the attached articles.
