Timeline: social networking sites

Social barrier or freedom?

 Social Networking sites are websites which allow people to build social networks with others who share the same interests/activities or even to maintain relationships with existing friends.

Although social networking sites are ever changing the concept stays the same; interactivity is what all of the web-based sites provide, making contact easier through e-mail and instant messenger.

Well-known sites such as; Facebook and Myspace are more general based , however there are countless variations which sometimes seek to target niche audiences, focusing on interests such as dating, music, film etc.

1997: Launch of the first social networking site SixDegrees.com, it allows users to connect and send messages to each other. However, its success was somewhat short lived as 2000 saw the website close. 

1999: Social networking became popular and then used as a way to target niche groups and subcultures; AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet and LiveJournal to name a few.

 2000: LunarStorm is relaunched and MiGente introduced bringing an online community of Hispanics together. In 2008 the founder of AsianAvenue and BlackPlanet bought MiGente and claims over 23 million users.

2001: South Korea was the next to jump on the bandwagon with Cyworld, which followed the general guidelines of a social networking site, however it was the first to introduce the idea that profit came from the sale of virtual goods. Recently, the US version of the site has been closed down until furthur notice. Ryze.com another site lauched in this period targeted at business professionals and new entrepreneurs.

 2002: Friendster was founded by a Ryze member, with a popular Asian uptake it receives 19 billion page views per month. Fotolog is self-explanatory being an online photo blog and receiving 750 million page views a month.

 2003: Several websites were launched; Hi 5 and MySpace being the most well-known. Hi 5 claims to have over 60 million active users and in 2008 was voted the third most popular social networking site. MySpace on the other hand had its popularity streak in 2006, until overtaken by Facebook in 2008. It had 1000 employees and asserts over 200 million users.

A typical Facebook profile

2004: OrKut, Dogster, Multiply, aSmallWorld, Catster, Hyves are a few that were lauched in 2004 that were less mainstream. However, 2004 saw the introduction of Facebook but it was only available to Harvard students then it began to develop so it became accessible to other students, until it became worldwide to anyone over the age of 13.

 2005: Re-launches of sites that introduced new networking features came about, for example; Yahoo! 360 (which also closed recently), YouTube and Bebo existed before but with limited interactive content, so they were re-launched and then added to the growing list of social networking sites. Facebook developed to become available to high school networks.

 2006: Facebook gradually becomes available to corporate networks and then becomes completely universal. CyWorld expanded to China and the USA, while the world saw the introduction of Twitter. With a revenue of $400, 000 and employment figures around 150, Twitter has become incredibly popular and sometimes referred to as the ‘SMS of the internet’.

Concerns over privacy of new site

2010: Google have recently lauched their own social networking site called Google Buzz, it includes most of the interaction components of social networking sites- sharing links, photos, videos, status messages and comments. Although, Google executive Sergey Brin, announced the service as ‘bridging the gap between work and leisure’, there have been many concerns over privacy and criticisms of the conformity of the site competing with other major sites such as Facebook.

Now magazine website

  Analysing the effectiveness of the website version of celebrity gossip, Now magazine.

Searchability:

Now magazine is easily found when googled, being the third most searched for, however there are other Now magazines, for example Now Toronto appears as the first result. When searched in the popular search engine ‘Ask’, it is the first unsponsored site that appears. The URL is http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk which is pretty straight forward if not using a search engine, making it easily accessible to existing and new users.

Usability:

The multimedia items, mainly videos, on the homepage and the designated video page, take a little while to upload, which could be frustrating to users. There are links on the homepage that allows the user to browse what they want to look at, for example, the arrows and the interchanging images.

Navigation:

The site is catagorised into some general concepts; news, photo galleries/video, style, celebrity files, horoscopes, shop, win and blogs. Within these there are many hyperlinks to navigate you to other pages, this is a possible critique, but also quite useful. The logo at the top takes you back to the home page.

The magazine-style

Design:

The design fulfils the actual magazine theme, it follows the recognisability of the cover of Now this makes the site easier to find and assert that it is the one they are looking for. It seems to be very symmetrical, in the way there are many interchanging boxes/links, it is quite a neat layout. However, it can also be seen as too cluttered, with the features and the adverts. Another criticism of the design is that there are a lot of links that are interchanging which looks slightly messy and too much, e.g the No.7 advertisements.

Content:

Fulfilling it’s market of delivering celebrity gossip, pictures and fashion. The website compromises with the hard copy itself and rewrites some articles that will be found through both mediums. It also has interchanging photographs in the top box, which gives you more choice or something that suits different audiences. Staying loyal to the ‘fashion’ theme, there are links of dresses halfway down the website. There are links showing the websites association with Facebook and Twitter. The advertisements are ones aimed at the female audience, for skincare, make-up and shopping. Everytime you navigate back to the home page the stories are refreshed and have updated.

Audio:

Audio content is not made clear at all, there is none evident on the home page. This is a major criticism, as it doesn’t cater to all audiences with reading or seeing difficulties. When the term ‘audio’ is typed into the search bar, there are two pages of results, so there are audio related features on the site, just not clearly shown.

Video:

In comparison to the minimal audio content, there is emphasis on the videos, as well as pictures. On the right hand panel there are two interchanging boxes that feature the ‘top videos’ and the other has catagories of videos, the arrow allows user to see more videos they may want to watch. These panels remain there when browsing the rest of the site, however they sometimes take a while to upload. The videos that are shown bigger in the designated section are poor quality and quite pixelated compared to watching the videos on the side panels.

Interactivity:

Should Amy Winehouse remove her implants?

 
Poll

Yes, they look like they might blow up!

No, they look good on her

Vote now

Interactivity has become a key component of websites, as it is a way for users to have more involvement on the site. On the homepage, there is a ‘latest poll’ section- which is updated and allows users to have their say. Users can comment on news stories, pictures, videos and blogs. However, it doesn’t look as though the users are taking advantage of this, as there are no comments on any of these. The user can be directed straight to sites where they can browse the websites latest recommended fashion and shop online. Various competitions can be entered by most users, those over 18.

User-generated content:

There does not seem to be any content created by the users. The stories have been written by editors of the magazine and there are bloggers that create their content.

My top 5 websites

Here is my take on the top five websites, you may agree that the shortlist is one from a student! But there is a few that haven’t made the cut believe it or not..we’re not all the same.

1. Facebook

Yes, it is number one regretably and also top on my thumbnails. But it is useful for staying in touch with those people who you don’t see (especially when at University) and for the nosey people who love to see what other people have been up to.

2. Google – and all its parteners

If ever in doubt about..ANYTHING. Google is the first search engine option that springs to mind, whether it is googling the difference between raisins and sultanas or browsing communication articles for the next dealine. Google books is actually my main reference for essays and scholarship.

3. eBay

Admitedly I’m a bit of an eBay junkie. But very useful for again..almost anything. From clothes to gadgets to books, you can find whatever you want at a much lower price than on the high street.

4. Youtube

Browsing through my favourite tracks and the latest videos- instead of waiting for them to debut on MTV. It can also be used for ‘educational purposes’ as well as procrastination, there are teach yourself videos for instruments and it is where I learnt about the illuminati.

035 to London please

5. National Express

This website is a very simple and the most useful way to book a coach or train to their 54 most popular destinations, the transaction is easy and they provide you with options of an e-ticket or m-ticket. I like it for cheeky weekends home, once in a while to remember what home cooking tastes like.