A social networking service is a platform through which people are able to communicate two ways. It is called Web 2.0, and that is because the person inputs into the website and the website gives feedback back, though with social networking it is other people giving the feedback. The communication is two-way.
Thesis
Social networking is also called social media and it is a way of allowing people to communicate without the feeling of it being one-to-one. A lot of times social media can be just about one-to-one communication, but other times it can be a broadcast that the whole Internet may take a look at. There are a few types of social media that are currently popular.
Body
Showing people the things you like
This is done in a small way by a number of social media networks, but the ones that really highlight it are social bookmarking networks. These allow people to show the world what they like and what they think is interesting. The social media network Pinterest gets a lot of traffic for the same reason, i.e. that people like to show off what they like.
Showing people your videos
There are a lot of people that like to show off their videos, and this is more popular than ever because handheld devices such as mobile phones are available to allow people to take videos of varying quality and length. The website YouTube has done very well in allowing people to show off the movies they have made, and clips of TV shows and movies that they like and want to share with people.
Showing people your pictures
This is popular for the same reasons that sharing videos is popular, which is mainly because people want to do it already and because mobile technology has made it so easy to do. You can show people your pictures on websites such as Instagram and Flickr, and people show off the other images they have mined from other areas including from other websites.
Sharing thoughts and short ideas
There is only really one social media network that has nailed this and that is Twitter. They allow people to share their thoughts, no matter what they are, in a short and easy to read format. This allows people to look at the tweets of other people and read through a lot of them very quickly.
Connecting with people for whatever reason
The social media network Facebook has mastered this and allows people two way communication in a number of formats (visual, text, audio, video, etc). People may respond if they wish and there is no obligation to engage, which is really what many people are looking for.
Conclusion
There are numerous types of social media network and many different methods through which they allow people to communicate two ways. There are a lot of popular social media networks and they are popular because they allow people to communicate something they already wanted to share. These social media networks simply allow them to do it more efficiently.
