Social networking sites are internet powered applications and websites that are used to communicate with other people. They are classified in various categories including the following;
Social connection sites
These allow one to keep in touch with friends and family by exchanging messages and other forms of media. The most commonly used are Whatsapp, Facebook and MySpace. Their advantages are they allow fast communication with people even over long distances and are very effective at maintaining social relationships. Their disadvantage is that they allow people to commit cybercrimes such as sexual predation, identity theft or cyber bullying since one can create an anonymous account. Chatting with someone online does not mean that you know them so it is hard to trust people on these sites.
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Micro-blogging sites
Here, users post short entries and are allowed to subscribe to other user’s content, send direct messages or interact publicly. They use hash tags to share related content and include Twitter and Tumblr. Advantages are they allow people to share the most essential information fast as the posts are limited to a few words. Disadvantages are that these sites can easily be used maliciously to spread false information and cause public panic.
Blogging sites
Users use long posts to present opinions, articles, stories or links where others can view them. The most common are Blogger and Word press. Advantages are that they allow one to share a lot of information to a target group and get feedback through comments. They can also be used for marketing as one can explain a product extensively and attach images and videos too. Disadvantages include that some people publish false information on them. They are sometimes tedious to read as their posts are too long.
Multimedia Sharing sites
These are primarily made for sharing images or videos online. Although people can still communicate with them, they are dedicated to media. Examples are YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Flickr. Advantages are that one can share an array of media content at a time and this makes them effective marketing tools. They are fascinating to use. Their disadvantages are that they are often used by malicious people to spread inappropriate content such as disturbing videos posted on YouTube kids by anonymous users. Someone may also post private images of someone thus violating the right to privacy. One may even have their photo downloaded from these sites and used inappropriately.
Educational sites
These are used by students to collaborate with others and interact with professors and teachers on educational material. They allow learners to learn and access classroom material online and include The Student Room and The Math Forum. These sites are advantageous that they are very beneficial to students who can get easy access to learning from any location. However, they can be used to cheat in tests where some students or tutors may complete assignments for others.
