The 10 Types Of Social Networks And Their Characteristics
Social networks (RRSS) are part of our lives for just over a decade. This has changed the way we relate to others, and our way of sharing knowledge and information.
Although the term social networks is used to refer to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.; In fact, this term is often misunderstood (we explain this later).
In this article We will delve into the different types of social networks and we will see what its characteristics are.
We are all familiar with the term social media; However, we often misuse this name. Before continuing, it is best to clarify some concepts that may cause confusion.
As explained in the article “Personal branding for psychologists on the internet and social networks”, many believe that social media is synonymous with social networks. But it is necessary to understand the difference between both terms.
Social media is a social media, an online platform, application or means of communication which many individuals use to create online interaction in order to share ideas, news and particular interests. On social media it is possible to share articles, images, videos, audios, and you can have chat conversations or video conferences. These include: Facebook, Google+, YouTube, WordPress, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Social networks are often confused with social media, but the former are not the platforms, but the interaction action that users perform Therefore, both terms are related but are not the same. Social networks are online communities.
In reality, social media not only refers to online communities, but also offline ones. In this sense, social networks are, for example, the friends that a person has.
However, in this article, and to avoid confusion, we will refer to social networks as social media and as online interaction communities
Brief history of social networks
Although today social networks are part of all of our lives and we would hardly imagine our daily lives without them, their historical origins are recent, dating back to 1994, when technological advances allowed some websites to offer the ability to add comments to forums, instant messages and friends lists
Now, the first social network that not only allowed you to create personal profiles, but also lists of friends and navigate through them, was Sixdegrees.com. During the period from 1997 to 2001, technological advances also allowed new interaction tools, which were used by Livejournal or LunarStorm.
Ryze.com is considered the first social network focused on business, which also emerged at that time. Later, Friendster, a dating portal, appeared. In 2003 Myspace was born, and months later, in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg created the most important and well-known social network of all: Facebook.
Types of social networks
Social networks allow the creation of communities of individuals with common interests, but there are different types, each with its own characteristics. How are social networks classified? RRSS can be categorized in different ways
They are social networks that were not created for any specific type of user, but rather All types of individuals interact in them, who, yes, can create their own communities For example, anyone can participate in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc., and benefit from their use and the available utilities.
2. Vertical social networks
They are those that do address a specific audience. They are known as specialized social networks.
3. Professional social networks
They are a type of vertical social network, in which The participants are professionals who interact with work objectives For example, companies or workers from different sectors. The best known is LinkedIn.
4. Leisure social networks
The theme of this type of vertical social network revolves around different themes: sports, music, video games… Wipley or Dogster are some examples. The failed Bananity also sought to gain a foothold in this type of network.
5. Mixed vertical social networks
They combine both professional and leisure themes, therefore, they are less formal, for example, than LinkedIn. Unience is one of the most prominent
6. University social networks
They are intended for the university public. In them, Students can chat, get to know each other and, at the same time, download notes Patatabrava is one of the best known.
7. Social news
Some social media sites allow people to post various news stories or links to external articles and then allow users to “vote” these articles. The items that get the most votes are the most prominent. The community of Internet users decides which news is seen by the most people The most popular are Digg and Reddit. For Spanish-speaking users, there are several websites with the same philosophy. Perhaps the most relevant is Menéame.
Blogs are social media in which opinions, stories, articles and links to other websites are recorded from a personal site. WordPress and Blogger are the best known. Blogs allow us to create interaction environments, in which individuals with common interests come into contact. In the field of Psychology, the best known is psychologymente.net, which receives more than 8 million monthly visits. In any case, there is no clear line between a blogging portal and a website dedicated to publishing on a certain topic.
9. Microblogging
These social networks are characterized by the publication of very short entries or updates that allow interaction to be transferred and individuals to interact. Users can subscribe to other users’ content, send direct messages and respond publicly Also create and share hashtags to send content on related topics to many individuals. Twitter and Tumblr are the best known.
10. Shared content
Social networks that allow uploading and share various content, such as images or video Most services have additional social features like profiles, comments, etc. The most popular are YouTube and Flickr.
