Now you see all these so called “Social Networking” sites popping up all over the place around the world such as myspace, hi5, facebook etc. These social networking sites are growing by thousands daily. So why is there so much excitement over these websites, and why are people just rushing to join them?

Well social networking is becoming the next generation of how people communicate online today. It takes your ability to talk and speak with people to a whole new level. Most of your typical networking sites will allow you to create and online profile about yourself, where you’ll be able to upload photos, videos, music, and just about anything else you want to add to it.

You can make your profile standout, and customize it to fit your style. With millions joining these sites daily you can quickly meet and make new friends from all sides of the world, and easily communicate back and forth.

Experts all over are saying that networking sites are growing at rates of 84% per year, and that number is only suppose to grow as time continues on. So how can you take advantaged of this new worldwide social network explosion?

You’ll probably notice that some people have turned their personal profile pages into billboards, and have some advertisements on them. You too can do the same, however you will not want to do it in such away you make people feel as if all you are doing is trying to get them to join something.

When using your profile page to advertise just be yourself, and tell people what it is you do, and what you like about it. If they are that interested that will find away to contact you. Now if you try to over due it, and hit them with to many sales pitches on your page you will only cause them to stop viewing your page, which is not a good thing.

Think if you went to someone’s myspace page, and all you saw was ads all over the place, and you couldn’t understand anything. Would you want to stay on that person’s page? More then likely you’re not going to stay on it very long. So think about that when you setup your page.

Social networking is booming as young adults find one another online to chat, post comments, post photos, and share info about the latest happenings in their world to their Myspace pages and Friendster networking sites. It is not always a good thing for sure, but more on that later on.

So how does it work? Well some genius thought up the concept of Myspace, which is basically a free bulletin board for anyone (not just teens) to create a web site that is all about networking and communicating with friends and creating new friends too. Users create a free account, enter information about themselves, in as much or little detail as they want. They then share their site with their friends. Their friends can then post comments on the myspace. It becomes a great big bulletin board of social interaction. The kids are glued to these things and seem to know how to find one another and chase down the latest hot info in a heartbeat.

So what does this mean to communication in the Internet age for teens and young adults? It puts a fancier face on the outpouring of information exchange between teens.

It used to be that only the geeky teens had web pages about themselves. They were the only ones who knew how to build them. Now with these easy to use tools at their disposal every teen or young adult can have a site. That means connections and networking spreads very fast.

The sharing aspect of these sites are not only their good side but also their bad side as well. In the last year many schools and parents have become alarmed at the content of some of these Myspace sites that students have built. In typical teen fashion some kids say on their site what probably should not be said in public. They post as though it were a diary and then it gets spread around. That means that hate and meanness spread within the community quickly. Some schools have cracked down and told students they would be expelled if they do not clean up their sites. Parents, just finding out about the technology and checking it out for the first time become alarmed at the things that are said on these postings.

Of course that aspect comes back to the old thing of parents needing to be in tune with their kids and what is going on in their world. You cannot give a kid a computer and internet access and then walk away and not pay any attention.

The other thing that has raised alarm in this world of social networking is kids will post news of a party in their area, to their site. Instead of getting to “just” their friends it ends up spreading to the whole area. Homes have been overrun by crowds of kids trying to attend parties. One such event even ended with a fatal stabbing when the crowd got to big and unruly.

Now these are the type of things that can happen with or without such social networking sites in teens lives. These sites are not going to fade away. Myspace has over 60 million subscribers and was recently bought by a major corporation. They intend to make a lot of money off these sites for years to come. After all it is a very juicy target market for advertising revenue.

This technology takes the fear out of having to meet new friends and acquaintances face to face and provides a more comfortable atmosphere for discussions. Social networking also allows those who have limited connection with others a way to feel involved with the world. This must be one of the main reasons millions are signed up and using these services each day.

The technology behind social networking is to ensure each person is equipped with the individual options they prefer to have a positive online experience within one of these communities. Such individual options include messaging, text chat, voice chat, blogging, email, video, file sharing capabilities, and groups for open discussions.

Each user creates a profile determining whether they are going to be categorized as internal social networking (public community) or external social networking (private community) participants. Users can also choose to communicate with only those individuals who are in their area creating a smaller circle if and when they choose to meet face to face.

Each one of the social networking websites or communities has their own form of categorization. It may be they choose to offer services to those looking for old classmates. Others offer users the ability to upload and watch video clips. The communities of users are the resources that bring new and updated content to others as they add, delete, or upload new material so there is little these websites can charge for under the circumstances.

Since these communities are free, they need some way to stay afloat. This is where business advertising comes in. Companies are charged to advertise their products and services for a fee. In turn, the money is used to maintain the site, add upgrades to the software, and keep everything running smoothly. Businesses advertising on these social networking websites have an advantage as millions of people are viewing their ads each day.

Some websites have the user create their account and create their complete profile. They allow the user to upload their image galleries and even videos. Depending on the completion of the profile, they can then be searched by others, and a proper network can be created. A user’s network is completely controlled by the user, and they can decide who they wish to add on their network and who not. Some social networking websites have a special feature where anyone can post a personal message to the user, which can be read by anyone, until the user decides to delete the message.

Apart from these basic features, some social networking websites have advanced features. For example, they allow the users to play small Flash games. These social networking websites also have other features which are popular amongst most social networking website users.

Advantages of Social Networking Websites:

Social networking websites are a very good option for people who do not have much time in their real time for socializing. They also actually allow users to reconnect with any of their long lost friends.

Social networking is by large a very harmless way to meet new people and connect with them. With the help of the profiles, you can know much more about a person than one would require for a first meet. And who knows, once two people meet, anything can happen!

Social networking websites are useful for professional reasons as well as personal reasons. Many professionals use social networking websites to forward their professional careers. Some professionals also meet people in their same professions and connect with them. This not only gives more information of the professional, it also creates a common knowledge base for the said profession.

Social networking websites can also be used for marketing of a particular product or a service. Almost all social networking websites are free to join, and the number of people on a social networking websites are just too much to be ignored by a marketing professional.

Disadvantages of Social Networking Websites :

Social Networking Websites, to be very frank, have little or no disadvantages. The use and misuse of a social networking website is all depending on the user. However, there are some precautions to be taken when signing up for a social networking website, and this is where Social Networking Websites falter.

For example, one of the first rules of online life is to give as minimum personal information as possible. But at a Social Networking Website, the user would have to fill an entire profile to make the networking fundamental actually work for the user.

Social networking websites are also known to be misused by advertisers. The free signup and the feature to connect and contact with anyone has made open a entire people to receive unwanted advertisements and other content.

However, social networking websites depends on the user. It is all up to the user, whether they can make their experience a good one or a bad one.

Make Friends before Making Money :

One of the most common misconceptions of businessmen in marketing their products and services through this medium is considering social networks as just place to post their advertisements on. Contrary to popular belief, posting advertisements that look too much like advertisements are not very effective in this medium. As these social networking sites serve as friend-finder platforms, it is often better to maximize its intended function in order to successfully market your products.

Because of this, you have to start from scratch and collect friends as you go along. This may sound a bit hard to do at first but keep in mind that having a great number of friends in your network is the best way for your offers to be noticed. This doesn’t mean, however, that you are going to flood the bulletin boards with your products ads right after collecting your friends. Instead, it is advisable to develop real relationships and friendships with those who have become your friends by helping them with their concerns, posting your blogs, sending your testimonials, etc. This way, you can be sure that when you offer your product and services to them, they will be interested and you will have more chances of getting sales.

Thankfully, these social networking platforms offer a way to make your task easier by giving you search options in which to limit your potential friends to those who might be interested in your particular product or service. If you have a pet shop for example, you might want to limit your members search to those people who love pets. Similarly, if you are a car salesman, you might like to look for those people who are of working age rather than those still in college. In social networking sites, you can search by limiting your search criteria to members’ hobbies, interests, location, organizations and more. This will help you limit and focus your marketing efforts towards people who are in your target market.

Share Information :

Blogging is a great way to reach out to people who might be interested in your service. Remember though that members of social networking websites are not actively looking for products and services so your advertisements would probably be not as effective as you might think.

Instead, try to post blogs that are informative and interesting. These blogs may not convince them outright to buy your products, but you will definitely stand out as someone who knows about this particular product. Thus, you will be one of the persons he or she will approach when considering a purchase in this product category.

Internet Surfers’ Choice :

This factor may be more important than you think as more and more search engines are integrating the voice of the internet users in how it ranks the websites. Today, you can see this through social bookmarking wherein internet users can bookmark their favorite sites through an online bookmark website, social search engines and social driven content wherein the users’ preferences and outlooks are given importance in ranking the websites. Users of social networking sites are given the right to vote on how relevant websites or articles are in their search. All these sites are easily accessible and membership is usually free.