In this dynamically changing world, people are connecting through social networking. Social connectivity links people together. Therefore users have found several mediums to remain connected with each other. Concerning this, the rate of social media users has escalated more compared to the previous year.
According to the research analysis by Kepios, in October 2022, 4.74 billion social media users worldwide are estimated to be 59.3% of the world’s population. Alas! One hundred ninety million users joined social media last year, indicating 4.2% growth with six new users each second. Other data from GWI with an average of 7.2% generally, social media users visit different social platforms every month. They typically spend close to 2 ½ per day on social media.
The above-estimated statistics of social networking indicate an increase in the number of potential users on social media. Nevertheless, we must keep going with the blog to understand more about Social Networking, its types, purpose, benefits, and how it works. The blog provides the top social networking websites with some social networking terms.
Understanding Terminology “Social Networking”
The Term Social Networking implies connecting two or more people through online platforms. Word “Social” hints to the users to socially connect with new people, businesses, and enterprises through a network of several online platforms. However, social networking is a way of using the available online platforms to remain socially connected with people, even through long distances. It gives great accessibility to multiple or sole users to link themselves with like-minded people, peers, family, and friends.
The journey of the first-ever Social Networking site SixDegress.com commenced in 1997. In today’s time, with recent technological developments and companies adopting business by creating their site on social platforms like Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, Telegram, and countless others. As per the Meta records, Facebook remains on the top ranking with 2.91 billion users as of Dec 2021. According to Statista, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram are popular social platforms following Facebook.
Online platforms are an excellent source for marketers to promote their business to reach the target audience. It helps them to obtain a brand reputation and encourages their sales too. So, online platforms support marketing and user networking by allowing connection requests, sending messages, and sharing information. Social networking also provides access to share the media like photos, videos, graphics, emojis, and much more.
How Does Social Networking Work?
Social Networking works by making connections with people of like-minded or different interests. They use mobile phones, tablets, or PCs to connect with the community. It is because an online platform attracts certain users sharing particular interests.
On social networking sites, interaction is directly proportional to networking. The more users interact, their network grows, including friends, professionals, and peers mostly. With this, as the user keeps interacting with several people, finding those with similar interests, their circle keeps expanding.
Various Types Of Social Networking
Explore different types of social networking sites in the blog with examples. Here are common types given below. Have a look:
Social Connection:
It is a type of social networking that keeps users well-connected with their friends and family. Users access their profile and account updates using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Yelp.
Professional connections:
They are oriented towards social networking for professionals. They use a general forum to connect with their co-workers and peers. LinkedIn and Twitter are suitable examples.
Educational:
Several students prepare for entrances, even for jobs and career-related examinations. Many people create their websites to invite them to join classes. But they also use online platforms like Google Classroom and LinkedIn learning are the best examples.
Media Sharing:
With Less content and more graphics, users can easily resonate with what it tries to convey. Videos and photos shared on YouTube and Flickr ease the effort of the users to carry out their interests and share information in multimedia form.
Informative:
Like you type a question on google and ask, “how do I get entrance into xyz university?” The possible results would show the answers from Quora, Reddit, and community forums. Users can trust the given explanations for the questions. With that, you will also find other inquiries related to the same topic. So, isn’t it amazing to get answers from people’s experiences in real life? Sure, it is. This kind of online information platform brings a sense of helping people with solutions, conducting discussion forums, and making them understand ways of performing different tasks.
Purpose of Social Networking
The purpose of social networking continues for several reasons: sharing, learning, iterating, and marketing. These four are the primary objectives of social networking.
- Sharing is helpful to forward the relevant information to your close ones, peers, or with professionals. Using images, videos, and graphics assists a lot.
- Online learning platforms serve as a medium for students and scholars to learn about the education field. You can quickly learn more about what’s happening in your community by reading breaking news and updates.
- Socially interacting with people keeps you ahead of time and distance. Video communication on Whatsapp and Instagram allows face-time with anyone anywhere in the world.
- Several companies also look into social networking services to create brand awareness for promotions on social platforms. It increases the audience, enhances customer retention, and escalates conversion rates.
Importance of Social Networking
Social networks are vital because they enable individuals to establish connections that might otherwise be unattainable because of physical and temporal distances. When employed for public relations, marketing, and advertising, they as well significantly bolster the company’s performance.
Major Social Networking Platforms in 2022
Below we have sorted a list of 17 social networking platforms provided by DataPortal. Let’s look forward to them with statistics provided for each.
Facebook:
Facebook is a place where millions of unknown and known people connect. It lets you keep your profile private and visible only to your friends. It does not add unwanted friends to your list, but you will receive friend requests safely. Remain alert before accepting the request of any unknown. DataPortals Statistics suggest that Facebook has 2.934 billion active users per month.
Instagram:
Nowadays, Instagram is gaining more social insight than Facebook. People are freely creating reels, connecting with other users going live, and making money through promotions. While you check, several videos of recipes and technology may excite one individual. It allows you to upload an image on a story and tag the person in the image with you or a video.
Also, it comes with the perks of safe messaging, as any person without a request would send you the message. It would automatically go into “message request”. Stats reveal potential advertising reach is 1.386 billion.
Whatsapp:
Who could not have ever known about this platform? It is the most used platform, preferred more by users than Facebook and Instagram, for private messaging. A new update of WhatsApp allows disappearing chats that are not relevant. Also, remember to delete irrelevant conversations. In that case, you can set a timer for that chat to be deleted in a day or so. Well, that keeps good storage of the phone’s memory. Stats reveal two billion users of this platform per month, yet more are emerging.
YouTube:
It has been a place for many influencers and fashion bloggers after Instagram. You can stream long videos of people running their Vlogs of different interests. Watch free movies and short videos here. It is like a learning platform where you can learn cooking, dancing, make-up, and preparing for entrances and exams. Statistics suggest potential advertising on YouTube has reached 2.515 billion.
Telegram:
Telegram is an excellent place to share files, videos, and everything. You can download movies, series, or examination-related things there. You can make groups and share media too. It allows you to store a large media capacity and limit up to your requirements. You can also archive your chats and still receive messages without messages going out of the archive. There are 700 million users using telegram for social networking per month.
TikTok
It is a social networking app that creates accessibility for all users to create and share short reels. From the younger demographic to all age groups, it brings out the spirit within every user for lively and enjoyable networking. According To Business of Apps analysis, TikTok gained 1.2 billion users by the end of 2021. It is a social networking app that has brought out the hidden creativity in several users, with an opportunity for them to outshine others.
Tumblr
This social news website allows users to seamlessly integrate images, videos, and other content types within short blog entries. Users can also pursue other users and private their blogs. Tumblr has had more than 518 million user accounts since about February 2021, according to FinancesOnline.
Benefits Of Using Social Networking Platforms
Using social networking platforms helps with brand awareness, audience reach, building connections, increasing sales, and boosting website traffic and profit margin.
- Users can easily collaborate with other brands and existing clients through social networking. It initiates brand awareness with successful promotion.
- After collaborating with reliable clients, social interaction creates outreach to millions of users on the same platform you use for brand awareness. It eases your way of connecting with people by reducing the physical and spatial existing lines through networking platforms.
- It also increases your followers and influence, so you must be careful with the content you upload.
- Resonating content will encourage more users to stay on your homepage for a long time and invite heavy traffic. It increases the chances of getting positive reviews and ratings.
- With heavy traffic, your sales are destined to increase, and business will continue to flourish.
- Companies can also employ social networking to link up with new and existing clients. They could use social media to build a supply chain and raise brand awareness.
- Social media enables a brand to introduce itself as rightful, reliable, and trustworthy. Businesses can utilize social media to exemplify the reliability of their customer service. It strengthens their connections with their clients.
However, with the benefits of social networking platforms, there are chances of rumors and misinformation spreading, leading to havoc among users. So, you better verify the information before taking its references.
Negative reviews and comments will discourage your audience and decrease traffic too. So revert your customers’ words with decency, as it will be public, or your business reputation will experience significant damage.
Several fake websites threaten users’ personal information, leading to intense privacy concerns. It is better to go through the website carefully before sharing your details. Hence, these are some things to be kept to prevent downsides due to social networking platforms.
Also Read: Why Just A Website Is Not Enough
Terms Associated With Social Networking Platforms
Sometimes, a user might need help understanding the meaning of the terms if they are well-known for their use and importance. So, here are standard terms related to social networking.
User Profile:
A user profile contains an individual or any business website on online platforms. It includes personal information, displays pictures, and news feed.
Connection List:
It contains a list of all people you are connected with and the connection request you have received. You will know whom you are following and your followers too.
Likes:
Getting likes in high quantity tells about the quality of your content. It also indicates the kind of content your audience would prefer the most. Your content reaches out to better areas through likes, comments, and shares.
The Bottom Line
The process of using online social media platforms to connect and link with different mindsets of people is called social networking. Companies use social media to promote the brand, sell products, build customer relationships, and enhance customer service. Social networking does have some downsides.
However, its gains, such as providing businesses and individuals with such a manner to rapidly spread messages. It makes it an innovation that will be implemented and established for the foreseeable future.
People can use social networking to publicly declare and communicate their concerns and interests with people who might very well encourage and socialize with them in other ways.
Interesting Reads:
Online Course Marketing: 5 Ways to Make Your Network Strong
Various Types of Online Communities to Follow
Build a Social Network Site With BuddyPress- Part 2
