Virtual communities (Part 5)

The WWW has led to websites allowing communication to be easier and with less hassle (depending on internet strength); these are Social Network websites (Facebook, Twitter etc.). This genre of websites allows people to connect to one another and have their own virtual profile of themselves containing information and pictures of themselves, and to see other users. Most Social Networks allow IM (instant messaging), where two people, or even in groups, can chat to one another and also send files, putting it on par with the email system, if not better. This also relies heavily on internet connection, a stronger connection results in a higher success rate on how you messages and files will send/receive. Another disadvantage of this is that it can lead to social disasters (i.e. Cyber bullying) which are mostly a problem for the youth, people can anonymously bully or take unwanted photos of someone and post them on the sites, with insulting captions. Social networks can also be a good source for advertising businesses, as people who like a certain brand, such as Coca Cola, can inform their friends on Facebook by "Liking" the page, notifying their friends that they like this brand, who may also like the fan page, leading on to a massive chain.


 Twitter is another form of social network, this allows people to follow one another and see what they have to say from a brief message. People can follow celebrities or TV shows to get information of them or "tweet". the fact that TV shows, brands and celebrities can tweet allows them to get sponsors or more followers, as similar to Facebook, people whom already follow can pass information to friends who can also join in and follow.

People can also add a hastag in front of a word. A hashtag groups tweets together on a particular subject. When you add a ‘#’ directly in front of a word (or acronym) on Twitter – a link is automatically created. This is called a hash tag. When you click on the link you will see all the latest tweets containing that hash tag, making them easy to find among the millions of tweets sent each day. If done successfully, Companies and celebrities can use this for their own personal gain.