Social networks area unit the relationships that tie the United States of America along. consider what happens once you meet somebody new. You raise wherever they work, wherever they grew up, wherever they visited faculty. Eventually, you notice that your childhood friend was during this guy's fraternity in faculty. even though you have ne'er met before, you are each composed of a constant social network -- a fan of a fan.

The term "social network" has been around since the Nineteen Fifties, however, the meteoric rise of social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Linkedin has turned a dust-covered social science phrase into the most well-liked meaninglessness of the net age.

A social network could be a system that maps out the relationships between people. Technically we have a tendency to all belong to 1 big social network, however, we have a tendency to conjointly belong to smaller, tighter social networks outlined by our families, our friends, wherever we have a tendency to live, wherever we have a tendency to work, wherever we have a tendency to visited faculty, our hobbies and interests, and for a lot of.

If your weekday down with a pen and paper, it'd be troublesome to plan all the folks with whom you are connected and every one the folks with whom they are connected. that is why their social-networking websites area unit is so powerful.

Social-networking sites "make invisible social networks visible" by permitting the United States of America to visualize (with footage and links) the United Nations agency our friend's area unit, United Nations agency our friends' friends area unit, Associate in Nursingd United Nations agency our friends' friends' friends area unit -- bushed an easy-to-use interface

When you produce a profile on a social-networking website, you set yourself on the social-networking map. you'll be able to use the net web site to:

  • lookup recent friends; build new ones
  • Share music, photos, and videos
  • join teams supported interests like politics, hobbies, or favorite TV shows
  • find jobs or love; or browse for the weirdest profile image

How standard area unit social networking sites? per ComScore, MySpace played over 114 million guests ages fifteen and older in June 2007, a 72% increase over June 2006. Facebook jumped 270% within the same year, up to fifty-two million guests a month. per Alexa, seven of the highest twenty most visited websites within the world area unit social-networking sites, like MySpace or Friendster, or contain vital social-networking elements like YouTube or Hi5.

But as social-networking sites go through the demographics area unit shifting. By August 2006, over a simple fraction of MySpace guests were over twenty-five years recent, with over 40% between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four. currently, non-university students will register for Facebook accounts, over 1/2 of that site's members area unit out of school. 

This isn't simply a U.S. phenomenon. Social-networking sites have gone the world. In June 2007, Google's Orkut player 49% of its guests from the geographical region (mostly Brazil) and 43% from the Asia-Pacific region. in this same month, a full 89% of holidaymakers to Friendster were from the Asia-Pacific region and 63% of holidaymakers to Bebo was from Europe.

In this HowStuffWorks article, we're getting to justify however social networks work, however technology aids in forming and maintaining social networks, and the way websites take social networks to the subsequent levels and on the far side.