Social Networking Sites

The basic structure of all social networking sites is pretty similar. Each site consists of a user profile and allows the user to follow their friends, family and acquaintances. As defined by Wikipedia " A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actor". Even though all sites share the target goal, each site varies in its content and features.

For example, Facebook is an online social networking sites that allows users to create their own profile. The site's features include the ability to post statuses (with no word count limit), post images, share videos and even to create events. Users can add others as the friend, but the other party must approve the request before it is confirmed.

Snapchat is another leading social networking site which is now the 3^rd most popular app in the U.S. The app allows users to create their own profile and send their friends and followers images and videos. A user can add friends by user name or by a phone number. Snapchat most used feature is "My Story" which allows all followers to see what images and videos the users posts throughout the day. Not long ago, Snapchat added a new feature that enables users to see videos from their favorite sites and channels; such as the food network and cosmopolitan.com

A similar app which is based on photos is Instagram. The app allows user to create their own profile and upload photos to share with friends, loved ones and fans. The app offers many different designs and themes to upgrade any picture the user wishes. Users can follow others by user name or phone number.

Twitter is an additional app that is very popular in the U.S. The app allows user to tweet statuses that are limited to 140 characters long. One can also share photos and videos on his profile. Since the word count is limited the tweets are usually short and to the point. After researching Twitter a little I found out the many people use it in order to keep up with news and to stay informed. During the Hudson crash Twitter users tweeted from the scene even before reporters arrived. 

I believe that all the sites/apps I stated above are very user friendly and easy to navigate. People who use social networking sites often usually use all of the four since each one has its own unique feature that they like best.