Social Networks - Define Social Networks

Definition:

Social networks are groups of individuals who share a commonality. Their common bond of social networks may be the community in which members live, their religion, subdivision, career interest, social interests, common friends or shared beliefs. In short, social networks can arise from nearly any commonality or even a desire to make friends among their individual members. Therefore, to define social networks requires a broad view.

Today's Social Networks

While traditionally, social networks were made up of people who might gather face-to-face, today's social networks are predominately online. Examples of today's social networks include social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and others. With increasing mobile phone popularity and enhanced cell phone technology, even Twitter might be considered a social network of sorts where you can let your network of friends know what you are doing or thinking at any given moment. Today's social networks are predominately free to join, which makes them extremely popular.

Use of Social Networks for Job Search

Social networks can be useful for those who are seeking legitimate work at home jobs. Most social networks include job search tools you can use. In the case of LinkedIn, access to some job postings is limited to members only.

Social Networks for Business Promotion

While strictly social when they began, social networks like Facebook and MySpace are being increasingly used for promoting every type of business from a small one-person business to mega corporations. From its birth, LinkedIn was geared more to fostering network connections within the business community and it's common for entrepreneurs and corporate managers alike to seek out partnership opportunities for their business.

Also Known As: social networking, social media

Examples:

Joining various social networks and opting in to sub-communities within them can also be an effective tool for promoting a business.

In their early days, social networks were also used as a means of building links to business websites - an important search engine optimization technique. However, in most cases, today's social networking sites have made adjustments that make these links worthless for search ranking improvements. Still, such links can bring increased traffic to a website.