The 10 types of Social Networks and their characteristics
Social networks (RRSS) are part of our life for just over a decade. This has changed our way of relating to others, and our way of sharing knowledge and information.
Although the term social networks is used to refer to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc; actually, this term is often misunderstood (we'll explain later).
In this article we will delve into the different types of social networks and we will see what its characteristics are.
- You may be interested: "Facebook, Instagram... and the summer that you're missing"
What are social networks
We are all familiar with the term social media; however, we often misuse this name. Before proceeding, it is better to clarify some concepts that can cause confusion.
As explained in the article “Personal branding for psychologists on the internet and social networks”, Many believe that social media is synonymous with social networks. But it is necessary to understand the difference between both terms.
Social media is a social media,
an online platform, application or means of communication used by many individuals to create an online interaction to share ideas, news, and particular interests. In social media it is possible to share articles, images, videos, audios, and chat conversations or videoconferences can be held. These include: Facebook, Google+, YouTube, WordPress, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.Social networks are often confused with social media, but the former are not platforms, but the interaction action performed by users. Therefore, both terms are related but they are not the same. Social networks are online communities.
In reality, social media does not only refer to online communities, but also those that are not. In this sense, social networks are, for example, the friends that a person has.
However, in this article, and to avoid confusion, we will refer to social networks as social media and as online interaction communities.
Brief history of social media
Although today social networks are part of the lives of all of us and we would hardly imagine our day to day without Their historical origins are recent, they date back to 1994, when technological advance allowed some websites to be able to offer the ability to add comments to forums, instant messages and friend lists.
Now, the first social network that not only allowed creating personal profiles, but also lists of friends and browsing them, was Sixdegrees.com. During the period from 1997 to 2001, technological advances also allowed new interaction tools, which were used by Livejournal or LunarStorm.
Ryze.com is considered the first social network focused on business, which also emerged at this time. Later Friendster appeared, a portal to flirt. In 2003 Myspace was born, and months later, in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg created the most important and well-known social network of all: Facebook.
- Related article: "The 18 best Facebook groups to learn Psychology”
Types of social networks
Social networks allow you to create communities of individuals with common interests, but there are different types, each with its own characteristics. How are social networks classified? RRSS can be categorized in different ways.
1. Horizontal social networks
They are social networks that were not created for any specific type of user, but rather in them all kinds of individuals interact, who, yes, can create their own communities. For example, anyone can participate in Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc., and benefit from its use and the utilities available.
2. Vertical social networks
They are those that do address a specific audience. They are known as specialized social networks.
3. Professional social networks
They are a type of vertical social network, in which participants are professionals who interact with work goals. For example, companies or workers from different sectors. The best known is LinkedIn.
4. Leisure social networks
The theme of this type of vertical social network revolves around different sizes: sport, music, video games... Wipley or Dogster are some examples. The failed Bananity also sought to gain a foothold in this network typology.
5. Mixed vertical social networks
They combine both professional and leisure themes, therefore, they are less formal, for example, than LinkedIn. Unience is one of the most prominent.
6. University social networks
They are intended for the university public. In them, students can chat, meet and download notes at the same time. Patatabrava is one of the best known.
7. Social news
Some social media allow people to post multiple news stories or links to external articles and then allow users to "vote" for these articles. The items that get the most votes are the most prominent. The Internet community decides which news is seen by more people. The most popular are Digg and Reddit. For Spanish-speaking users, there are several websites with the same philosophy. Perhaps the most relevant is Menéame.
8. Blogging
Blogs are social media in which opinions, stories, articles and links to other websites are recorded from a personal site. WordPress and Blogger are the best known. Blogs allow you to create environments for interaction, in which individuals with common interests come into contact. In the field of Psychology, the best known is psychologymente.net, which receives more than 8 million visits per month. In any case, there is no clear line between a blogging portal and a website dedicated to publishing on a certain topic.
9. Microblogging
These social networks are characterized by the publication of very short entries or updates that allow transfer of interaction and that individuals interact. Users can subscribe to other users' content, send direct messages and reply publicly. Also create and share hashtags to get content on related topics to many individuals. Twitter and Tumblr are the best known.
10. Shared content
Social networks that allow uploading and share various content, such as images or video. Most services have additional social features like profiles, comments, etc. The most popular are YouTube and Flickr.
