3.1 What is a social networking site?
At the most basic level social networking sites are sites which allow users to set up online profiles or personal homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page functions as the user’s own webpage and includes profile information ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion, politics and hometown, to their favourite films, books quotes and what they like doing in their spare time. In addition to profile information, users can design the appearance of their page, and add content such as photos, video clips and music files. Users are able to build a network of connections that they can display as a list of friends. These friends may be offline actual friends or acquaintances, or people they only know or have met online, and with whom they have no other link. It is important to note that the term ‘friend’, as used on a social networking site, is different from the traditional meaning given to the term in the offline world. In this report we will use the term as it is used on a social networking site: anyone who has invited, or been invited by, another user, to be their ‘friend’. There are many applications and types of content that can be used on social networking sites.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/socialnetworking/report.pdf
