"Social Networking Sites: A Promotion Tool"

We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to -

·         Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,

·         articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and

·    view and navigate their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site. While we use the term "social network site" to describe this phenomenon, the term "social networking sites" also appears in public discourse, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. We chose not to employ the term "networking" for two reasons: emphasis and scope. "Networking" emphasizes relationship initiation, often between strangers. While networking is possible on these sites, it is not the primary practice on many of them, nor is it what differentiates them from other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC).

What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather that they enable users to articulate and make visible their social networks. This can result in connections between individuals that would not otherwise be made, but that is often not the goal, and these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share some offline connection. On many of the large SNSs, participants are not necessarily "networking" or looking to meet new people; instead, they are primarily communicating with people who are already a part of their extended social network. To emphasize this articulated social network as a critical organizing feature of these sites, we label them "social network sites."

While SNSs have implemented a wide variety of technical features, their backbone consists of visible profiles that display an articulated list of Friends who are also users of the system. Profiles are unique pages where one can "type oneself into being" (Sundén, 2003, p. 3). After joining an SNS, an individual is asked to fill out forms containing a series of questions. The profile is generated using the answers to these questions, which typically include descriptors such as age, location, interests, and an "about me" section. Most sites also encourage users to upload a profile photo. Some sites allow users to enhance their profiles by adding multimedia content or modifying their profile's look and feel. Others, such as Facebook, allow users to add modules ("Applications") that enhance their profile.

After joining a social network site, users are prompted to identify others in the system with whom they have a relationship. The label for these relationships differs depending on the site—popular terms include "Friends," "Contacts," and "Fans." Most SNSs require bi-directional confirmation for Friendship, but some do not. These one-directional ties are sometimes labeled as "Fans" or "Followers," but many sites call these Friends as well. The term "Friends" can be misleading, because the connection does not necessarily mean friendship in the everyday vernacular sense, and the reasons people connect are varied (boyd, 2006a).

The public display of connections is a crucial component of SNSs. The Friends list contains links to each Friend's profile, enabling viewers to traverse the network graph by clicking through the Friends lists. On most sites, the list of Friends is visible to anyone who is permitted to view the profile, although there are exceptions.

Most SNSs also provide a mechanism for users to leave messages on their Friends' profiles. This feature typically involves leaving "comments," although sites employ various labels for this feature. In addition, SNSs often have a private messaging feature similar to webmail. While both private messages and comments are popular on most of the major SNSs, they are not universally available.

Beyond profiles, Friends, comments, and private messaging, SNSs vary greatly in their features and user base. Some have photo-sharing or video-sharing capabilities; others have built-in blogging and instant messaging technology. There are mobile-specific SNSs (e.g., Dodgeball), but some web-based SNSs also support limited mobile interactions (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, and Cyworld). Many SNSs target people from specific geographical regions or linguistic groups, although this does not always determine the site's constituency. Orkut, for example, was launched in the United States with an English-only interface, but Portuguese-speaking Brazilians quickly became the dominant user group (Kopytoff, 2004). Some sites are designed with specific ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, political, or other identity-driven categories in mind. There are even SNSs for dogs (Dogster) and cats (Catster), although their owners must manage their profiles.

While SNSs are often designed to be widely accessible, many attract homogeneous populations initially, so it is not uncommon to find groups using sites to segregate themselves by nationality, age, educational level, or other factors that typically segment society (Hargittai, this issue), even if that was not the intention of the designers.

Why it is needed?

The sheer number of users on social networking Web sites and their passion for the topic represents a potentially significant opportunity that marketers have yet to fully understand and tap.  As today’s social networking sites exert a much stronger pull on their members compared to other Web sites, social networks have become a potentially useful marketing tool. 

Social Networking Websites represent an important media channel for reaching a diverse demographic, including, teens and young adults, women, moms, affluent consumers, and older individuals

Consumers respond less to traditional media and advertising, and are moving towards consumer-to-consumer communication such as blogging, mobile messaging, comparison shopping sites, word-of-mouth marketing, and peer-to-peer networks.  It is seen that a significant number of consumers trust advice from friends online; representing three times as much trust than via traditional media.  Further, one in three Internet users visits Web sites containing user-generated content to help make purchase decisions.

Advantages

1.      Being where the customers are

 It is unavoidable; the social networking sites rely on the regular presence of millions of users. Since the new generations to the elderly, many people spent hours daily on sites like Facebook and Twitter, watching videos on YouTube, sharing photos on Flickr.

2.      Have a current image of the company

Social networks are part of people's lives, where users get recent development and news. Companies with strong presences therefore keep their following up to dates. These are values that can convey a positive image of any company.

3.      Open Channel with customers

A presence in social networks makes it possible to receive comments and feedback, thus creating channel of interaction with clients, potential clients and society at large, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

4.      Contributes to a good ranking in search engines

 We have certainly already noticed that when you search on Google that some of the suggestions are Blogs, Videos, Pages at Facebook, etc. Having a company website may not be enough to get a good ranking for those keywords that vital for your niche.

5.      It is relatively cheap

If we consider the potential impressions, clicks, interaction with the brand provided by social networks, and compare its cost with the potential for the same results in other traditional media, we find that the investment remains relatively cheap.