Social Networking is loosely defined as user created and user participatory content on Internet. It is often mis-called Web 2.0, but broadly includes a mix of both Web (e.g. websites like Facebook) and other types of Internet Content (e.g. personal blogs).

Example: Starbucks Community | TheOnlinePhotographer

One big issue with the Internet and advertising is that the audience is less likely to accept advertising in many digital arenas and is mixed and unpredictable about others, for example:

• Accepted - Search Engine Results Page ads, eZines
• Not Accepted - Bulletin Boards/Usenet Newsgroups, Chat
• Tolerated - eMail, newsletters
• Tolerated as Publicity - Facebook, blogs

Social Networking or Web 2.0 is user driven form and content as opposed to organizational and business driven content. From this point of view the internet information has four primary sharing patterns:

1. one-to-one,
2. one-to-many,
3. many-to-many,
4. and many-to-one.

Web 2.0 | Web2.0

Internet Technologies to meet all four of these design patterns, are evolving and include...

• UseNet Newsgroups & Bulletin Boards
• RSS blogs
• RSS Feeds
• wikis (not just Wikipedia)
• tagging and global bookmarking
• IM/Google Talk (Google Socnet products and services)
• Flickr
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Social Networking websites - Yelp and Found Magazine for example
• Shared bookmarking like delicious (formerly del.icio.us)
• chat
• Content & File Sharing (YouTube, Kazaa, Napster controversy, Index of)
• couponing
• Linkedin
• digg

...as examples.

Three particular technologies and attendant device development (wireless, PDAs, iPods, etc) have made Web 2.0 aka Social Networking able to respond to the huge interest people have in participating in content development and sharing.

1. RSS - Rich Site Summary aka Really Simple Syndication - is a lightweight XML format designed for multipurpose extensible metadata description and syndication formatting:

for data feeds from a website content publisher (including the BBC, CNET, CNN, Disney, Forbes, Motley Fool, ESPN, Wired, Red Herring, Salon, Slashdot, ZDNet, and more) that syndicates its content through an RSS publisher.

for Blogs - A blog (a contraction of the term web log) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many bogs

2. Wireless and satellite communications and the building of the cellular network towers

3. PDAs and touchscreens,cell phones (iPhone) and other portable devices

Web 2.0 | | Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

• 1974 - On-line ATMs introduced – The newly connected machines soon led to the modern-day networks we’re all familiar with.
• 1984 Apple introduces the Desktop Computer in a single two-minute Super Bowl Ad
• 1986 telephony Internet telephone connections
• 1988 Commercial eMail available, usually through work site and educational institutions
• 1991, Al Gore "invents" the Internet wisely dubs it the “Information Superhighway” in December when Congress passes a bill to build the National Information Infrastructure
• 1991 Laptops developed - the look and feel of the laptop was defined by the Apple computers, (built in trackball, keyboard and Palm rest). Not to be outdone the IBM Thinkpad 700C introduced the TrackPoint a year later.
• 1992-1994 Starbucks opens in California
• 1993 Proprietary Online eMail service provides large scale adoption of Internet email as a global standard.
• 1993 Cell phones available to public in replaceable hand-held sizes (2nd Generation)
• 1995 the wwweb and the Internet becomes available to households with Netscape and the W3C
• 1995 Laptop batteries last more than 10 minutes and laptops, power cords are introduced to recharge them, hard drives big enough to hold data and run software...they become portable.
• OnStar satellite subscription service available in cars.
• 1996 MapQuest.com was launched on the Internet, changing the way people obtain street maps and directions forever.
• 1996 (Palm) Pilot was the name of the first generation of personal digital assistants (PDAs) manufactured by Palm Computing in 1996 (then a division of U.S. Robotics).
• 1997 IRC Chat and text messaging
• 1997 AOL Instant Messaging (IM)
• 1998 Cell Phones start to become mainstream
• 2000 Text messaging launched for cell phones (2nd Generation)
• 2000 eHarmony & Match.com online dating
• 2001 Streaming audio and video
• 2002 Blogging becomes available when MetaWeblog API merges RSS 0.92 with XML-RPC to provide a powerful blogging API. 3/14/02.
• 2003 T-Mobile Hotspot develop wireless access
• 2003 MySpace launched
• 2000 GPS systems In Your Car, and on your cell phone, dude! (1996 developed | 2004 in cars)
• 2004 Facebook launched
• 2004 Blackberry becomes popular
• 2004 Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community platform. In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository
• 2006 A Skype user can have local numbers for voice and video telephone; Skype Video conferencing was introduced in January 2006 for the Windows and Mac OS X platform clients.
• 2007 the iPod introduced and iPod Ads as well a the iPod nano Ads
• 2007 iPhone introduced and iPhone Ads (all Ads)
• 2007 - 2009 Twitter launched and takes over media and the Congress (see 4 Reception - 4.2 In the Media )