Chapter – 3 Overview on Social Networking Sites

CHAPTER – 3
OVERVIEW ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Introduction

Less than a few decades ago, connecting to people meant

communicating via snail mail, fax, phone calls and beepers. Since then

communication evolved into email, IM (instant messaging) and SMS

messaging through mobile phones. Today, these facilities are looked

down upon as very simple communication tools which do not give

additional personal experience. People want to share more and at the

same time learn more about persons with whom they communicate

everyday. Simple email exchanges provide necessary data about each

group/person, but today, just two persons sharing data is

considered insufficient. For that reason, social networking began to

grow online.

In recent years, the online community has moved a stepped

further in connecting people. Social networking was born, and through

this online platform, people can share their thoughts, post pictures,

videos and even invite people to events. Social networking websites

have created virtual communities wherein communication is not just

based on the information required but at a personal level as well.

The rapid growth and desirability of Social Networking Sites has

been witnessed in almost every country. India considered a fast

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developing country has not lagged behind. As such, the usage of social

media is rampant among citizens and they hail from every class. Indian

society has adopted the new age media, i.e., social networking along

with maintaining its traditions. It’s an amalgamation of both modernity

and tradition. Therefore, Social Networking Sites form part and parcel

of everyday life of many Indians.

Social Network and Social Networking Sites

In the discipline of sociology the concept of ‘social network’ refers to a

social structure made up of individuals who are connected to each

other and have a complex set of relationships or ties between

themselves. Hence in the study of social relationships the analysis of

the role of social network assumes significance. Today social network

analysis has become one of the major paradigms in contemporary

sociology. Emile Durkheim, Ferdinand Tonnies, George Simmel, Jacob

L. Mareno, Bronislaw Malinowski, Alfred Radcliffe – Brown, Claude

Levi-Straus, John A. Bareen and many other sociologists have given the

prime of place to social networks in their respective studies.

George Simmel, the German sociologist, has stressed upon the

importance of studying social network by emphasizing the dynamics of

triads and web of group affiliations. It is also noteworthy that eminent

sociologist Jacob Mareno had developed the first sociograms in 1930s

for the study of interpersonal relationships. The major theme of social

network is to comprehend social interaction where social phenomena

should be primarily conceived and investigated through the proportion

of relation between and within units.

A social network is a collection of individuals linked together by a

set of relations (Downes; 2005). Online social networking sites ‘virtually’

link individuals, who may or may not ‘know’ each other. As a result,

they enable rapid exchange of knowledge, high levels of dialogue and

collaborative communication through text, audio and video (Siemens;

2006).

Hence, the inner base for the creation of SNS is nothing but the

concept of social network. Social Networking Sites can be broadly

defined as internet-based social spaces designed to facilitate

communication, collaboration, and content sharing across networks of

contacts. Social Networking Sites allow users to manage, build and

represent their social networks online. People use Social Networking

Sites for countless activities of which the most common uses include

connecting with existing networks, making and developing

friendships/contacts, creating an online presence for their users,

viewing content/finding information, creating and customizing profiles

and so on. Social Networking Sites are usually made up of other

individuals; they might also include profiles of events, companies and

even political parties. These Social Networking Sites have rapidly

gained popularity. By 2013, globally active memberships on Social

Networking Sites had reached 1.73 billion (Wikipedia.com).

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 Boyd and Ellison (2007) define Social Networking Sites as “web-

based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or a semi-

public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other

users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse

their list of connections and those made by others within the system”.

Wikipedia defines a Social Networking Site as an online platform

that focuses on building and reflecting social networks or social

relations among people who share interests and activities. Social

Networking Sites, E-mail, instant messaging, view-and photo-sharing

sites and comment posting are all tolls that help people to communicate

and socialize with each other (Carla; 2009).

The online social networking revolution, seen in such sites as

MySpace and Facebook, has focused attention on sharing information

about one's personal life, but social networking also offers the potential

to facilitate the exchange of thoughts and ideas and thus informal

learning. Social networking sites allow people to easily forge

connections with others where none previously existed, such as ties

crossing physical, geographic, institutional, and organisational

boundaries. Social networking sites have changed the notion of the

World Wide Web from the page metaphor to a model predicated on

micro content; content blocks that can be saved, summarized,

addressed, copied, quoted, and built into new projects (Alexander;

2006).
 However, addiction to Social Networking Sites is increasing day

by day, especially among the younger generation. It is a trend that has

diverged the way relationships are now perceived. Our society is now

moving from face-to-face relationships to on-line relationships. A

decade ago, not many in India, ever thought that SNS would capture

our psyche in such a way as it is occurring now.

Purposes of Social Networking Sites

Social networking provides advancements especially in communication

and self expression and the use of social networking is expanding.

Social Networking Sites are used by diverse categories of users for a

variety of purposes. The main goal or motive of the Social Networking

Sites is to provide an interactive environment to communicate with

peers and get useful information. Through the review of literature, the

following aspects of Social Networking Sites have been identified:

 To Find Useful Information: Social Networking Sites are a new

platform for information sharing and communication, where

users can read, download and upload valuable as well as up-to-

date information and share with others. For instance, read book

reviews, join publishers/ journals/organizations/Institutional

pages and so on.

 To Get Opinions on Different Subjects: Social Networking Sites

users post their comments on a subject matter for open

 discussion and get diverse views of peers. The users community

give their feedback in the form of comments regarding the topics

posted.

 For Entertainment: Many people admit that these sites are

merely a form of entertainment. They use these sites as a creation

network of users, share and post funny videos or photos, flirt

with girls, comment on the profile of others, and establish fake

relations through chatting. Some people use this media for

eradicating loneliness and depression.

 For Socializing: The term "socializing" is widely used in the field

of Sociology which means to create a society. In the context of

Social Networking Sites, socializing means to meet people on a

single platform, share common interests and communicate with

each other.

 Discussion Forum: People on these sites join different groups or

communities like academic, business, political and social welfare.

Users of Social Networking Sites discuss common matters on

related problems. They post common topics for discussion and

take views and opinions of others.

 To Share Experience and Expertise: The users' community

share their experiences, achievements, solve problems, give or

take advice on it. They also share personal information with those

people whom they do not even know.

 For Academic Purpose: Academic bodies such as

school/college/university and other institutions are making use

of these type of media in order to provide information on what is

happening in their respective institutes in the form of

announcement and news. They also help in providing reference

utility at admission time. The libraries also utilize this technology

to provide need- based services to the users.

 To Communicate with Family and Friends: A powerful mode of

- communication among friends, family, teachers, researchers

and other business and academic community, which is proved by

research studies, about Social Networking Sites is that it is the

new innovative tool for communication between family and

friends.

 Playing Games: Most of the Social Networking Sites provide

features of games. Sometimes members of a particular network

get entertainment through playing games provided by these

networking sites. This feature which is very popular among

teenagers is used for playing online games.

 Interactive Media of Communication as Compared to

Phone/E-Mail: Social Networking Sites are free services provided

by the Internet. Anyone can connect with them without any

hindrance or special skill. These sites provide easier, cheaper,

 faster and more interactive features for communication than the

earlier communication tools such as mobile or email.

 To Keep-Up with Up-to-Date Happenings: This medium keeps

up-to-date with the current happenings in society, profession,

business and work place of the users. For instance, if an earth

quake has occurred users have updated their status on the SNSs.

 Helps in Study and Learning: It is a virtuous network among

students and teachers. This medium provides an interactive

classroom environment among teachers and learners. Sharing of

academic materials is more likely to be done between teachers

and students as well as among students themselves.

 Promote themselves and their Work: Everyone can share their

latest achievements in their respective fields. The users'

community post their journey photographs and personal videos.

 Informed about New Products: This media spread awareness

about the recent launches of new products in the market.

 Advertisements: Through Social Networking Sites people can

advertise a specific product on an idea to create awareness

among their clients. On the other hand, these are also used to

publicize different issues and to get feedbacks.

  Business: The idea of developing Social Networking Sites is

basically a business strategy. It ensures involvement of users

while introducing new products.

 Professional Network: People related to similar professions can

share useful tips regarding current happenings and - discuss

professional as well as personal problems on Social Networking

Sites. It can in turn build powerful networks and collaborations

between professionals and help in their professional fields.

 Online Interaction: SNS merely facilitate with online

interactions among people who are located at distant places

across the globe.

 Feedback: The users give their appropriate feedback regarding

use of particular products and services or about any issue.

 Build Relationships: Social Networking Sites connect those

persons who have not yet met. It also strengthens existing

relationships by keeping in touch and sharing personal

information.

What Can College Students Do With Social Networking

Sites?

Being involved with a Social Networking Site gives college students

many benefits. The following are some of the activities in which they

can be engaged:
 Create Profile: Social Networking Sites provide features to create

new profiles which are filled by biographical details, photos or

videos, and their areas of interest.

 Upload Videos/Photos: These sites facilitate uploading of

photos, videos and sharing with others. The users can promote

their own personal videos by using this medium.

 Creating and Advertising Events: The events creating or joining

features of SNS permit the user to publicize parties, workshops,

conferences or gatherings that will be hosted. For instance,

numerous users create events on lislinks.com regarding

attendance of a particular conference or seminar by the members.

 Group Searching/Joining: People can search various types of

groups related to numerous fields and join these that are related

to their fields of interest. There are various types of groups

available on Social Networking Sites, such as, professional

related, social based, fashion related, technology, news, library

related, cultural associations, human rights, shopping,

marketing, education, sports and tourism.

 Friend Searching/Adding: It also facilitates the search for

particular types of friends and send friend requests to form part

of friends list.

 Message Post: This is the most convenient way to communicate

with friends through post anti send messages across.

 Chatting: Social Networking Sites offer the facility of messaging

and video based chatting with their friends.

  Games: They provide multiple types of gaming facilities. Anyone

can become a member and access facility on their respective

page.

 Appearance and Layout: Users can create their choice based

appearances of individual web pages on these sites. They can also

customize their content on sites before presenting it to others.

 Tagging: It is the process of providing a keyword to specific

content to describe it according to own abilities and share it with

others. The users can tag specific information to their friends.

 Download applications: It is a small program which is created by

the users for various purposes.

History of Social Networking Sites

The idea of connecting people through the usage of networked

computers, in order to boost their knowledge and their ability to learn,

dates back from the 1960s which was the vision of JCR Licklider. Tim

Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, had foreseen the

development of an active suite of tools that would allow users to create

rather than just passively browse. Social networking began in 1978

with the Bulletin Board System (or BBS.) The BBS was hosted on

personal computers, requiring that users dial in through the modem of

the host computer and exchanging information over phone lines with

other users. This was the very first system that allowed users to sign in

and interact with each other, yet it was quite slow since only one user

could be logged in at a time. Later in the same year, the very first copies
of web browsers were distributed using the bulletin board Usenet.

Usenet was created by Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott, and it allowed users

to post news, articles or posts, which were referred to as “news”. The

difference between Usenet and other BBS and forums was that it didn’t

have a dedicated administrator or central server. There are many

modern forums that use the same idea as Usenet today which include

Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups.

The first version of instant messaging was introduced in 1988

with Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC was Unix-based therefore limiting

access to most people. It was used for link and file sharing, and

generally keeping in touch with one another. During the 1990s the first

“social” uses of the World Wide Web evolved when tools such as

listservs and discussion software were used to link people around the

world with common interests. Geocities was among the first social

networking sites on the internet, launching its website in 1994. Its

purpose was to allow users to create their own websites, dividing them

into “cities” based on the website’s content. In 1995, TheGlobe.com was

launched, offering users the ability to interact with people who held the

same interests and publish their own content (Ahmed; 2011).

Moreover the first social networking site, SixDegrees.com,

appeared in 1997. It allowed users to create profiles, list their friends

and surf the friends list. Many features of social networking sites were

available in diverse formats before this time, but SixDegrees.com was

the first platform to combine all features. This was the year where
instant messaging became very popular and it was the first time

internet users were able to create a profile and friend each other. The

name was derived from six degrees of separation concept. It means if a

person is one step away from a person they know, and two steps away

from each person who is known by the persons they know then each

person is at most six steps away from any other person on the earth.

Users can post bulletins and send messages to the people in their first,

second and third degrees and can also see the connection of other

users on the site. Users can also invite non-users to join it. It attracted

million of users but if failed to become a sustainable business. Finally it

had to be closed in 2001. The founder believed the site was too ahead of

the time. Internet was pretty new to people at that time. Many of the

users were just interested to surf on the internet and not to get much

involved in such sites. They were interested in maintaining contact with

old friends but not interested to meet new strangers. The site lacked lot

of activities other than making friends like games, etc. which is a

prominent feature nowadays on SNSs like Facebook, Orkut.

Within the year of launch of SixDegrees.com to 2001, a number of

communities developed tools to support combinations of profile along

with the list of articulated friends. Some of the examples are

AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, MiGente. They allowed users to create

personal, professional and dating profiles. It also facilitated users to

identify the friends in their personal profiles without the approvals.

Then came another major launch of LiveJournal in 1999. It is virtual

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community where internet users can maintain a blog, journal or diary.

Blog and diary, one to support blogging and another for social

networking, is an unique feature of this site. This is very different from

other sites where you can only blog or only social network. Of course,

many of the sites do have dual feature now. LiveJournal was started by

owner to keep updated his high school friends on his activities. In

LiveJournal, users marks others as friends to follow their journals

which is a way different from SNSs nowadays. The Korean virtual site

called Cyworld was started in 1999 but was not having much features.

It added the specific SNS features in 2001 which was totally

independent of other sites existing at that time. Another simultaneous

site at that time was LunarStorm, a Swedish community developed in

2000, it contained Friendlists, guestbooks and diary pages.

The next major launch was of the site called Ryze. It was

developed to leverage the professional networks of the users particularly

new entrepreneurs. It was started in 2001 by Adrian Scott. The site

contains more than 500,000 members in over 200 countries. There are

paid and unpaid memberships. The owner of the site initially

introduced the site to his friends who were primarily members of the

San Francisco business and technological community, including the

investors and entrepreneurs who had found different SNSs later on.

Ryze was a big influencing factor on Friendster. The people who are

behind the sites like LinkedIn, Friendster, Tribe.net were personally

and professionally related. In the end, Ryze never got a mass

popularity.

Friendster was launched in 2002. The main goal was to compete

with a dating site called Match.com. While most of the dating sites

target people on introducing to strangers with similar interests,

Friendster was designed to help friends-of-friends meet. It was assumed

the friends-of-friends would make more romantic dates rather than just

totally random person. Users can contact other members, sustain those

contacts, share videos, photos and messages.

In its first three months itself, the social networking website

acquired 3 million users, amounting to 1 in 126 internet users being

members at that time. As the popularity of Friendster’s gained heights,

the site started to face technical difficulties along with social difficulties.

Friendster’s databases and servers were not well sufficient to handle its

rapid growth and hence it started to hinder the site. This started to

frustrate users who started to use the Friendster to replace email. This

had a kind of negative effects on the users who were planning to join it.

The media had negative news for Friendster due to its inability to

handle so many users. So new users were reluctant to join because of

the media coverage. Also the existing users started to face social

problems. At one time Friendster had many members, users had to face

their bosses and some persons along with their close friends. So

Friendster had to restrict the activities of their passionate users, which

got bad impression on the users. In initial design of the Friendster, it

restricted the users from viewing profiles of the people who were for

degrees away (Friends-Friends-Friends-Friends). As a result in order to

make more contacts or view profiles, users started to check any profiles

they came across. As a result people started to make fake profiles

resembling various characters: Fictional, celebrities, concepts, etc. As a

result, company started to remove fake profiles as a result users were

restricted to within that four degrees level. The active deletion of

fakesters (along with genuine users who preferred to choose non-

realistic pictures) felt that the company did not share the users

interests. As a result many of them started to leave Friendster. Already

many of them had started not to use anymore because of the technical

and social problems, reduced the popularity of the Friendster. Its

popularity was fading in USA but it was reaching great height in Asian

countries. One of the biggest bad luck was written in Friendster’s

destiny when they turned down the offer of 30 million dollars offered by

the Google. Fortune may have changed if Friendster would have

accepted that offer. Friendster stumbled more when MySpace was

launched around that time. MySpace got more features at a quick

speed than Friendster and it was able to handle the traffic very well.

From 2003 onward there have been ample of SNSs sites

developed. Many of the sites took the profile centric approaches,

developing social network even among the strangers, few sites focused

on building up the professional network such as LinkedIn. The major

revolution came with the launch of MySpace in 2003. It had different

applications where users can even customize their own profile by

adding different themes. It was build to compete sites like Friendster.

Their major approach was to attract the users who had quit Friendster.

After rumours spread that Friendster may take paid approach, users of

Friendster posted messages encouraging people to join alternate SNSs

like MySpace, Tribe.net. As a result MySpace was able to capture

market rapidly. One particular band that helped to the promotion of the

MySpace were indie-rock bands who were removed from the Friendster

because they failed to follow the rules and the regulations of Friendster.

MySpace welcomed them even though it was not designed specifically

for them. As a result, the fan followers of the indie-bands became

members of the MySpace. Local promoters started to use MySpace to

advertise the passes for those bands. The popularity of the MySpace

started to reach heights. MySpace also contacted to local musicians to

show them how they can support them. Well this was not the only

reason for the success of MySpace, it was their user friendly approach

with their users. There were a lot of teenagers who were attracted to

MySpace. Instead of rejecting users, MySpace developed policies for the

minors. This was a great welcome approach. Along with them, college

students were always a part of the fan following of MySpace to make

social network. So MySpace created three main categories of users:

Local bands or musicians, teenagers and college or post college

graduates. In July 2005, MySpace was purchased by News Corporation.

It attracted a great media attention. Though there were some issues in

MySpace such as sexual interactions between minors and the adults,

prompting legal actions still the popularity did not fall.

In the following years, other social networking websites like

Classmates.com, LinkedIn and Tribe.net started to pop up, including

what was to be the most popular social networking website in internet

history - FACEBOOK.

Facebook.com was launched in 2004 with the intent to connect

U.S. college students, starting with Harvard College. This was probably

another great revolution in the social networking world. In its first

month, over half of the 19,500 students signed up. After gaining

immense popularity, Facebook opened its registration to non-college

students, and in 2008, Facebook surpassed MySpace as the leading

social networking website. It caught the attention of almost every user.

The best feature of Facebook is they develop new applications for the

users from time to time according to the users. They have great

technical team to support the millions of users requirements.

Another site which was launched almost as the same time as

Facebook, though little bit early was Orkut by Google. Orkut was a big

success in Brazil, India but not USA. Orkut was unique in his features

but Facebook was quicker in developing applications than Orkut.

LinkedIn was launched in 2003 but it reached profitability in 2006. It

was not that famous in earlier stages. The site was launched with focus

on building professional network. In 2006, another SNS was launched,

Twitter. It enables users to read and send messages known as Tweets.

It is often called as the SMS of the internet.

Timeline of the Launch Dates of the Major Social Networking Sites

SixDegrees.com
1997

Friendster
2002

Myspace
2003 Hi5

Facebook
Orkut
2004• Flickr

Classmates
2005

Twitter
2006

Ibibo
2007

Bharatstudent
2008

Google plus
2013

(Source: The Researcher)

 Social networking has come a long way since 1978, and we will

all witness its evolution for years to come, forever changing the way

people connect with one another (Boyd & Ellison; 2007).

In 2013 the number of people who use social networking sites

has reached to 1.73 billion and this number seems to be mounting day

–by- day (Wikipedia.com). People join SNS because it gives them an

opportunity to express their views, a feel of independence and self

esteem. It’s just a quick way to create a virtual profile and connect with

millions of users across the world. Social Networking Sites, therefore,

facilitate communication, sharing between family and friends

irrespective of any barriers.

Types of Social Networking Sites

There is an innumerable number of social networking sites empowered

with various technological affordances. Besides, the cultures that

emerge around these sites are varied. In this study ten major Social

Networking Sites have been identified for a brief explanation. These

include: Facebook, Orkut, Google plus, Myspace, Bharatstudent, Hi5,

Twitter, Ibibo, Classmates.com and Friendster.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the most popular and frequently used social networking

site. It is basically an online social networking site which derives its

name from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the
start of the academic year by some American university administrations

to help them to get to know each other. Facebook was founded in

February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and

fellow Harvard University students, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew

McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

However, the founders had initially limited the website's

membership to students of the University of Harvard only, but later

they expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League,

and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at

various other universities before it opened to high school students, and

eventually to anyone by the age of 13 and above. Facebook now allows

anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old to become a registered

user of the website. The members of Facebook throughout the world

have increased to 1.15 billion in 2013. As such, in January 2013, the

countries with the most Facebook users were: United States with 168.8

million members, Brazil with 64.6 million members, India with 62.6

million members, Indonesia with 51.4 million members, and

Mexico with 40.2 million members. That is why, a January 2009

Compete.com study ranked Facebook the most used social networking

service by worldwide monthly active users.

2. Orkut

Orkut is a social networking site which is owned and operated

by Google. The service is designed to help users meet new and old

friends and maintain existing relationships. Orkut is available in 48

languages throughout the world enabling increased usage. The website

is named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. It is

noteworthy that Orkut is one of the most visited websites in India and

Brazil. As of October 2011, 59.1% of Orkut's users were from Brazil,

followed by India with 27.1% and Japan with 6.7% . As of October

2012, Alexa traffic ranked Orkut.com 746th and Orkut.com.br 738th in

the world; the web site currently has over 33 million active users

worldwide.

Orkut was launched on January 22, 2004 by Google. Yet it was

Orkut Büyükökten, a Turkish software engineer, who developed it as an

independent project while working at Google. Prior to the 60th

Independence Day of India, Orkut's main page was revamped. The

section which usually displayed a collage of photos of various people,

showed a stylized Orkut logo. The word Orkut was written

in Devanagiri script and was coloured in Indian national colours.

However, the actual members of Orkut have decreased to 33 millions in

the year of 2013.

3. Google Plus

Google Plus is another social networking and identity service that is

owned and operated by Google Inc. It is the second-largest social

networking site in the world, having surpassed Twitter in January

2013. It has approximately 359 million active users. As of May 2013, it

had a total of 500 million registered users, of whom 235 million are

active in a given month. Google has described Google+ as a "social

layer" that enhances many of its online properties, unlike conventional

social networks generally accessed through a single website.

Thus Google+ aims to make sharing on the web more like sharing

in real life. Google+ integrates social services such as Google Profiles,

and initially introduced new services identified as Circles, Hangouts

and Sparks. Two main strengths of Google+'s social site are

photography and its "Hangout" feature. Moreover, Google+ is available

as a website as well as on mobile devices. On May 14, 2013 a new

version of Google+ was introduced. It is noteworthy that the New York

Times has declared it as Google's biggest attempt to rival the social

network Facebook.

4. Myspace

Myspace is a social networking site with a strong music emphasis

which is owned by Specific Media LLC and pop music singer and

actor Justin Timberlake. Myspace was launched in August 2003 and is

headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In June 2012, Myspace had

25 million unique U.S. visitors. In 2013 there are 50 million users of

this site. Myspace was founded in 2003 and was acquired by News

Corporation in July 2005 for $580 million. From 2005 until early 2008,

Myspace was the most visited social networking site in the world, and

in June 2006 it surpassed Google as the most visited website in the

United States. In April 2008, Myspace was overtaken by Facebook in

the number of unique worldwide visitors, and outshone the number of

unique U.S. visitors in May 2009. Myspace generated $800 million in

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revenue during the 2008 fiscal year. Since then, the number of Myspace

users has declined steadily in spite of several redesigns.

As of June 2013, Myspace was ranked 303 by total web traffic

and 223 in the United States. On September 24, 2012, Justin

Timberlake, who has an ownership stake in the company, tweeted a

link to a video showing a redesigned Myspace, which is dubbed the

"new Myspace". During the months following Timberlake's tweet

Myspace began its closed beta testing phase for new.myspace.com. A

new feature is the streaming music player where users can queue

songs, create mixes or playlists, or start a radio station from a song

much like Pandora Radio. Around midnight on Sunday January 13,

2013, new Myspace entered its open beta phase. On 12 June 2013,

Myspace announced the launch of a mobile app to accompany the new

Myspace. The app allows users to listen to personal radio stations, as

well as those created by artists. It also allows users to create

animated GIF files, which is originally only available for the iPhone and

the app is slated for future release on the Android mobile operating

system.

5. Bharatstudent.com

Bharatstudent.com is a social utility that brings together all the young

Indians living across the globe. It is India's Largest Free Social

Community Networking Site for Indian friends and Indian students. It

is for every Young Indian who is a student or a non-student, fresh

graduate, a working professional or an Entrepreneur, and is focused on

providing comprehensive solutions for any personal and professional

issues. According to the Alexa Traffic ranks, Bharatstudent.com holds

the ranking position of 553 worldwide for total internet traffic. It was

started by Vishnu Vardhan Induri, Business Director funded by

northgate ventures in the year 2007. It is basically a social networking

site for Indian students living in India or abroad.

6. Hi5

Hi5 is a social networking site based in San Francisco, California. The

company was founded in 2003 by Ramu Yalamanchi. In Hi5, users

create an online profile in order to show information such as interests,

age and hometown and upload user pictures where users can post

comments. Hi5 also allows the user to create personal photo albums

and set up a music player in the profile. In addition Users can send

friend requests via e-mail to other users. When a person receives a

friend request, he or she may accept or decline it, or block the user

altogether. If the user accepts another user as a friend, the two will be

connected directly or in the 1st degree. As of December 2007, Hi5 had

over 98 million members. By 2008, comScore reported that Hi5 had

become the third most popular social networking site in terms of

monthly unique visitors. Bill Gossman was appointed as CEO in April

2009, and since that time, Hi5 has refocused itself as a social

gaming platform and opened itself to new game developers. Gaming

industry veteran Alex St. John joined the company as President and

CEO in November 2009, and in early 2010, Hi5 acquired social gaming
company Big Six. The company raised $20 million in series. A venture

capital was also gained from Mohr Davidow Ventures, as well as $15

million in venture debt, in 2007, and announced it had raised $3

million convertible note from existing investor Mohr Davidow, bringing

the funding up to $38 million. Quantcast reports shows that Hi5 has

2.7 million monthly US visitors and 46.1 million global

visitors. Software-industry veteran Karen Richardson has served as

chairwoman of the company's board since 2008.

The social networking site, Tagged, purchased Hi5 for an

undisclosed amount. Due to Hi5’s shift in focus to social gaming,

comScore reclassified Hi5 as an online gaming site in early 2011.

According to comScore, Hi5 ranked as the 6th most trafficked online

gaming site. Although it was created and headquartered in the United

States, it is more popular in other countries, particularly in Latin

America, being ranked 37th in the world only among people who have

the Alexa toolbar installed on their browser but only 84th in the US. In

2013 the total number of members has increased to 80 millions on this

site.

7. Twitter

Twitter is an online Social Networking Site with micro blogging service

that enables users to send and read "tweets", which are text messages

limited to 140 characters. Registered users can read and post tweets

while unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter

through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is
based in San Francisco and has offices in New York City, Boston, San

Antonio and Detroit. As such Twitter was created in March 2006

by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and by July

2006, the site was launched. The service rapidly gained worldwide

popularity, with 500 million registered users in 2012, who posted 340

million tweets per day. The service also handled 1.6 billion search

queries per day. Twitter is now one of the ten most visited websites, and

has been described as "the SMS of the Internet."

Therefore the company experienced rapid growth. It had 400,000

tweets posted per quarter in 2007 but this grew to 100 million tweets

posted per quarter in 2008. In February 2010, Twitter users were

sending 50 million tweets per day. By March 2010, the company

recorded over 70,000 registered applications. As of June 2010, about

65 million tweets were posted each day, equalling about 750 tweets

sent each second, according to Twitter. As of March 2011, that was

about 140 million tweets posted daily. As noted on Compete.com,

Twitter moved up to the third-highest-ranking social networking site in

January 2009 from its previous rank of twenty-second. As of September

2013, the company's data showed that 200 million users send over 400

million tweets daily, with nearly 60% of tweets sent from mobile devices.

There are 200 million active members on twitter in 2013. Overall it

shows that Twitter is a very famous and frequently used social

networking site in a number of countries.

8. Ibibo

Ibibo stands for iBuild, iBond and it is an Indian social networking site.

It is an umbrella site that offers a variety of applications under its social

network. The services offered by this networking site include games,

blogs, photo unlimited storage, mail, messenger, videos, free SMS

service, mail, polls and surveys. Ibibo Group is an E-commerce and

online transactions organization in India. The group owns a) Online

travel businesses such as "Goibibo.com"; redBus.in b) Payment

platform: payu.in c) Marketplace platform: Tradus.com and d) Auto

classifieds platform: Gaadi.com. Ibibo which stands for iBuild, iBond,

started as an Indian social networking site in 2007 and in 2009 pivoted

to a full scale e-Commerce organization. Ibibo was founded in January

2007 by Ashish Kashyap, a former Head of Indian Sales and Operations

for Google. Mr Kashyap currently serves as the company's Group CEO.

9. Classmates.com

Classmates.com is a social networking service created in

2005 by Randy Conrads who founded Classmates Online, Inc.

The social media website was originally designed to assist members in

finding friends and classmates from kindergarten, primary school, high

school, college, work and the United States military. According to the

Online Publishers Association Paid Content U.S, Market Spending

Report, Classmates.com was Number 4 among the Top 25 Web

Destinations Ranked by Consumer Content Revenue in both 2002 and

2003. In 2006, television program The View mentioned Classmates.com

as having more than 40 million members in United States and Canada.

In 2010, CEO Mark Goldston described the transition of the website "to

increasingly focus on nostalgic content" such as "high school

yearbooks, movie trailers, music tracks, and photographic images."

In order to appeal more to older users, the name of the website

was changed to Memory Lane, which included a website redesign.

However, in November 2010, Classmates was not among the top 10

social networking websites and forums, as measured by Hitwise.

Alexa.com shows Classmates.com to be the 4,211 most visited website

on March 12, 2011, falling from the top 1,000 as recently as January

2010. Classmates.com was one of the first social networks yet its habit

of continuously dunning customers for small fees prevented it from

reaching the scale and popularity of later social sites.

10. Friendster

Friendster was founded in 2002 and is based in Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysia. Before the site was redesigned, the service allowed

users to contact other members, maintain those contacts, and share

online content and media with those contacts. The website was also

used for dating and discovering new events, bands, and hobbies. Users

could share videos, photos, messages and comments with other

members via their profile and their network. It was considered one of

the original and even the "granddaddy" of social networks. The service

became popular in Southeast Asia and is a major site in that region of

the world. Since the re launch of Friendster as a social gaming platform

in June 2011, the number of registered users has reached over 115

million. The company now operates mainly from three Asian countries;

the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, and over 90% of the site's

traffic comes from Asia. As of 2008, Friendster had more monthly

unique visitors than any other social network in Asia. The top 5

countries accessing Friendster, according to Alexa, as of May 7, 2009

were the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and India.

Today Friendster is still notably popular in Indonesia and the

Philippines. Friendster is the first social network to support both

the Open Social and the Facebook Platform. In December 2009,

Friendster relaunched its website with a new interface. In 2010 the

total number of members using Friendster was 8.2 million.

Growth and Development of Social Networking Sites in

India

With the arrival of the liberalization era, India embraced the

innovations occurring around the world. With increasing numbers of

educated people and access of Internet, the usage of Social Networking

Sites has been significantly fostered in India. Will Hodgman rightly says

that “Social Networking continued strongly in India, with several of the

top global brands carving out a more prominent position”. Further he

continues to add that “the Social Networking phenomenon continues to

gain steam worldwide, and India represents one of the fastest growing

markets at this moment”; “while there is certainly room for several

players in this social networking space in India, the Social Networking

Sites that have the right blend of both a strong brand and cultural

relevance will be best positioned for future growth”.

Today India ranks as the third largest users of Social Networking

Sites, after U. S. and China. Currently (2013) there are 127.5 millions

of Social Networking Site users in India. It is projected that the total

number of users will double in just four years (282.9 million in 2017).

“The social web appears to have gone beyond supplementing

communication. Online Indians today are using social media to

facilitate activities that range from leisure like entertainment, improving

their livelihood through job searches and researching prospective

partners,” said Suhale Kapoor, EVP, Absolute Data.

However, the comparison of Indian usage of Social Networking

Sites with the usage of world level is rather disappointing. The number

of users of Social Networking Sites around the world in 2013 was 1.73

billion. Further, the growth rate of Social Networking Sites in India is

always slow compared to other developing countries due to several

factors, which are; lack of internet access, conservative mindsets of

many Indian families, illiteracy, poverty, lack of flexibility among the

Social Networking Websites and so on.

Moreover, research shows that about 80% of all internet users

visit one social networking site or another with Facebook and Twitter

being top in their list. The same research also shows that less than 5%

of the Indian population have access to the internet and hence are not
privy to the interactions on these sites. One of the reasons for this

segregation is that most of the Social Networking Sites are not offered in

languages other than English. Therefore, researchers expect the next

boom in social networking to happen when this facility is made

available in regional languages. It maybe this aspect which hinders the

usage of these sites by many who are not conversant with English.

It is also true that in India the maximum numbers of internet

users do not hail from the corporate class but come from the middle-

income group or youngsters excited to share their life experiences with

friends. Hence, at present pace of growth of Social Networking Sites in

India is on the increase, particularly among college students. Students

are more prone to social media; as a result the latter has a major role to

play in the overall development and relationship patterns. Therefore,

the future of the country is in the hands of youth who in turn are

influenced by the social media.

Conclusion

Social networking sites have become a mainstream medium for

thousands of teens and adults from all around the world including

India. These sites encourage and enable people to exchange information

about themselves, share pictures or videos, and use blogs and private

messaging to communicate with friends, others who share interests and

at times even the world at large. Networking websites function like an

online community of internet users. Depending on the website in

question, many of these online community members share a common

interest such as hobbies, religion, or politics.

Overall, Social Networking Sites are important tools of

communication, entertainment and sharing in this era. As such there

has been considerable rise in its usage especially in the Indian Society.

As a matter of fact, the youngsters are more prone to be involved in

Social Networking sites than any other group. Social Networking Sites

facilitate sharing of information, increasing contacts and so on. Yet a

drastic change has been noticed pertaining to the usage of Social

Networking Sites in relation to interpersonal relationships among this

age group.

Human beings are intrinsically curious by nature and have the

propensity to be always forward looking; dwelling in the past is not

acceptable to him. Hence, humans have the characteristic of evolving in

various aspects among which technological development forms part.

Internet is the most recent and unique invention in the history of

humankind. Certainly Internet has facilitated the lives of humans

enormously through the plethora of advantages it provides. Internet has

enabled social interaction through Social Networking Sites. The most

popular Social Networking Sites are Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, Google

plus and many others. Through these networking sites a person can

engage in innumerable activities such as sharing videos and pictures,

having access to national as well as international contacts, and so on.

Page 140
 India, as a developing country, has also incorporated the

technological developments along with maintaining its core traditions.

Social Media or SNS are symbols of the New Age revolution bringing lot

more than such a mere medium of communication. It can be said that

SNS has turned to be a social phenomenon affecting every

superstructure of society along with its members. Hence, it is

primordial to study the interpersonal relationships in Indian Society

pertaining to Social Networking Sites in order to understand the

phenomenon in a social context.

This chapter provides a brief description of Social Networking

Sites and Social Network along with some theoretical perspectives. Also

this section illustrates the purposes as well as uses of Social

Networking Sites. From this aspect the rapid propagation of Social

Media can be better understood. The history and types of Social

Networking Sites have been extensively described in this third chapter.

This, as a result, presents a clear view about the most popular

networking sites and the reason/s for being so. As the present study on

networking sites is located in Indian Society it is necessary to

investigate its growth and development in India. Interpersonal

relationships in Indian social sections are being affected by this

phenomenon and hence this study attempts to understand the way

SNS function in India.

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