I think the best “Social Network” definition I’ve seen is on PCMag.com’s Encyclopedia:
An association of people drawn together by family, work or hobby. The term was first coined by professor J. A. Barnes in the 1950s, who defined the size of a social network as a group of about 100 to 150 people.
On the Web, social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have expanded the concept to include a company’s customers, a celebrity’s fans and a politician’s constituents.
Simply put, social networking is connecting with people using websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It can be useful personally (connecting with friends and family) and professionally (connecting with industry peers, customers, business partners, etc).
Over the next few blog posts, we’ll offer advice for using social networking sites for your business and answer questions like:
- I’m on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn. Now what?
- What are the primary differences between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? How can I use them in conjunction with each other?
- How can I gain more followers/friends/contacts?
- I don’t have time to keep up! How can I use my social networking time effectively?
If you have additional questions you would like us to answer, send me an email, post a note on Three Girls’ Facebook Wall, or reply/direct message us on Twitter.