The Place Where We All Meet

Social Networking Site

The Definition:
A social network service focuses on BUILDING and REFLECTING of social networks or social relations among PEOPLE, e.g., who share interests and/or activities.

Understanding Social Network

The Who?

I'm on a social netowork; you are on a social network. Your mum, my mum are friends on Facebook. My ex-boyfriend's brother's wife's sister's daughter is on Twitter. The band playing at Timbre every Wednesday & Friday are on MySpace. These days, it seems we are at least on one social network. Or sometimes, two, three or even more.

Basically, EVERYONE is on.

Like what the title says, it is the place where we all meet. We even meet people we don't know and will never get to meet in life! A tracking survey done in December 2008 by Pew Internet & American Life Project have found that 35% of adult internet users now have a profile on an online social networking site. The teenager's stands at 65% and the taking the top position are the young adults like myself, taking the biggest amount of percentage, 75%. Since the very beginning of the FIRST social networking site, nope, not Facebook. But since Bulletin Board System, the social networks have only continued to grow at an explosive rate.

A flashback of the Bulletin Board System

The Why?

Why is social networking so popular? And it is factually popular not just in the younger generation, but apparently it appeals to the older generation as well! What is so captivating about adding and interacting to people you don't know?

1. EASE OF USE
With wide variety of social networking websites in use, there are different reasons for their popularity in the Internet. The first feature noted in most of the social networking websites like Myspace is their ease of use. Even one with very little knowledge about the Internet could use these social networking websites. These social networking websites are made so simple so that users can easily navigate through the pages.

2. EASE IN GETTING NEW FRIENDS
Second aspect is the easiness in making new friends with the help of these social networking websites. There are many people who really love to make new friends online. The reason being, social networking websites allow the users to get the information about the interests of the other Internet user before making any contact or conversation with him. Without these social networking websites we would have to connect to others through chat rooms, and learn about their interests by actual conversation before considering them as friends.

3. FREE TO USE
Another noticeable feature of social networking websites is that most of them are free to use. All we have to do is to make a free registration in these social networking sites. Once the registration is complete, we are all set to go. This free registration for a unique service is one of the main aspects that make these social networking websites more popular. However, some of the social networking websites like Classmates offer only a free trial membership. You can try the website and decide whether it is worth paying for. Since most Internet users don’t really want to pay for something that they can get for free, these paid social networking websites have only limited number of members.

4. MORE BENEFITS
Meeting new people and making new friends online is the basic use of these social networking websites. Apart from making friends, most of these websites have started including some additional features. The additional features they offer are, free webpage, free music, free videos, free blog etc for their members. There are people who use these social networking websites for business promotion.

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I have came across just 2 days ago a new social networking site that is designed almost similar to Facebook but I feel it has more appeal and have potential to break the market.

This undiscovered website by many is....

SEETIO!

Basically, Seetio is a social networking website that allows going out with friends made much easier. Here is a little write up about Seetio!

Never miss a party again!

We think that the best way to know where your friends go is through the messages exchanged between them. With this information we can tell you how many people will attend each place.

You will not longer need to fill in endless forms to create events to gather your friends:

Just write a single SMS like message.

Forget about scoring the trendiest locals:

In Seetio we believe that the most popular venues are those in which more people meet up, so ratings and labels are automatically generated from private messages sent by users.

 

Storing hundreds of messages each time we meet is useless:

Messages are automatically deleted after date expires.

We want you to have fun!

Each day we will propose you a little challenge like going somewhere new in your city or inviting the girl you like at her favorite restaurant. If you do, we’ll reward you with a flash game, video or any other funny things.
We will also let you know which of your friends have visited your profile in last 24 hours.

Chat and make friends:

Each “Seetio” (venue) has a public wall where you can chat with people that is attending too… here you can relax and chat with people that you may even know by sight!

Comparing Seetio & the very famous Facebook, I believe has a higher chance of attracting a group of people - partygoers. 

Well, I'm not implying that partygoers are not users of Facebook. Rather, Seetio provides a better platform as compared to Facebook because it focuses a lot on events. And especially, it provides ratings and reviews of the location of the event. It gives people an idea first of what to expect, and people adore information! It helps them prepare for what is about to happen.

And 3 things that Facebook doesn't do is, firstly automatically deleting expired messages. This function is crucial!!!! I realize that everytime I accumulate inbox messages and when I want to delete them, I realize that there are so many of them! And I'd have to look through on which has expired. Whereas Seetio automatically deletes it! Plus point! Next, is that Seetio directly interacts with their users by proposing the challenges. And if you win the challenge, you are rewarded! Seetio also let its users know which of our friends have visited our profile in last 24 hours. Everyone wants to know who stalks them... Thus, plus plus point!!!

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Good for Business?

YES!

Social networking sites has a couple of properties that businesses should consider.

1. STRONG ability to reach the target market

Its high-end technology can help them broaden their scale and hit a global audience. Its accessibility is one of its greatest features as it can be used by everyone with very little or no cost at all. 

2. It's applications and tools are very EASY to learn and navigate

People do not need to have a special skill to be able to take advantage of it.

3. The social interaction between the consumer and the marketer is more RECENT

 The immediate responses are very much convenient for both parties. It can make any business survive in such a competitive industry.

4. Allows businesses to INSTANTEOUSLY CHANGE their advertisements

It is extremely simple just by editing and altering the content of their web site

5. IT IS FREE!

You can load images, your logo, etc. into your profile and it will be visible for your virtual friends and all the users who visit your profile. You can also put topics on groups related to your business and stabilish new contacts that can lead to sales, subscriptions or anything else.

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Hope you enjoy reading this humble post of mine. And have come to grasp this huge phenomenon of social networking sites in the current times!