What is social networking

In defining Social Networking, I have broken down the terms. Social is to interact with one or more persons, who you may or may not be familiar with, usually for the sake of being socially courteous, forming aquaintances or strengthening relationships. Networking is also about forming relationships but is a more formal construction of connections formed that intersect at a place of commonality, for example business, friendship, family etc.
Networks are useful in commercial activities as it enhances the "word of mouth" method of promotion by travelling outside your domain or social circle, reaching others through various and possibly unending network connections.
Social networking has become a blur of personal and business relationships and thus potentially unending connections when carried out on the internet. This process has been enhanced by Web 2.0 capabilities of sharing, collaborating, creating and participating, which increases finding capabilities to add connections with people or businesses through common grounds, for example finding functions on Facebook or Twitter, or advertising tailored to your profile.

Social Networking technologies and sites already used:
- Facebook (regularly)
- twitter (account hardly used)
- Delicious
- Flickr
- NING
- YouTube (regularly)
- News blogs
- various Listservs

What I expect to learn from completing INF506.
- Current trends in using social network sites in information environments.
- Further familiarisation with social networking sites.
- Exploration of previously unknown sites and formats useful in social networking.
- Future outlook for integration of Web 2.0 into society and application of emerging trends.
- How social networking can be inbedded in information seeking behaviour and user power
- How to cope with barriers to integrating Web 2.0.