Social Media: Throughout the history of society, people have organized different ways of establishing connections and communicating.
With the advancement of technology, social networks have become spaces for exchanging experiences and online interactions, bringing people from all corners of the world together. There are several social networks, and every year, a new one appears to stand out and become the trend. Do you remember the last ones you signed up for? Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , Instagram , among others.
These social networks have specific characteristics, such as interactions through text, short videos or challenges, groups, etc. But the fundamental precept of all of them is: to create connections between people.
What Are Social Networks?
Perhaps, when you hear “social networks”, you will immediately associate it with some channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. But social networks go beyond online platforms.
Social networks are channels — online and offline — created to connect people according to their interests and values. The network is established by a succession of connections of people who interact around a certain subject.
An organization is a “social network” because it connects people to discuss something in common. The same reasoning can be applied to those who gather around a religion, politics, affective or family bond.
What Is The Difference Between Social Networks And Social Media?
There is a lot of confusion between social media and social media. They are used synonymously by many professionals, but they are not. Social media corresponds to people and the performance of each of them within society. Everything that people produce or promote within a social network is considered social media!
Thinking about the online environment — and explaining the previous topic — we consider social networks the channels and platforms that connect people, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
In this context, social media correspond to the people subscribed to these channels and their publications:
- A video published on YouTube
- A tweet made on the Twitter profile
- An update on the Facebook feed
- A Story on Instagram
The Origin And History Of Social Networks
Do you remember the first online social network you were a part of? Was it Orkut? The Photolog? . But, the origin of social networks is before the emergence of Facebook or Instagram. Despite being two of the channels with the most users today, they could only be created because back in 1994, someone had the idea of creating the first online community.
What Was The First Social Network?
In 1994, David Bonnet and John Brezner founded GeoCities, the first social network. The platform is not an example of interaction between users, but it was a space with resources for people to create their pages. El a had 38 million users at its peak. The following year, 1995, Randy Conrad’s created Classmates. The tool exploded in the United States and Canada — and still exists today — connecting many academic students. Also, in 1995, a forum was created that allowed users to share their experiences online, The Globe. These were the first social networks to connect people through an online platform!
What Are Social Networks For?
Social networks can connect people and create an interaction between them as their main function. Not all social networks are primarily intended to provide entertainment — we’ll see the different types in a moment — but they’re all designed to connect as many people worldwide as possible on the same channel.
As people are increasingly connected to the Internet, social networks have developed and become part of everyday life, facilitating communication, involvement and relationships between people. For example, when someone posts a Facebook post, they want to communicate with their followers.
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