Gathering people

A social network is a social structure made of nodes which are generally individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. The term was first coined in 1954 by J. A. Barnes (in: Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish, "Human Relations"). The maximum size of social networks tends to be around 150 people (Dunbar's number) and the average size around 124 (Hill and Dunbar, 2002).

Myspace is a typical example of social networking. You can make blog, display videos and music and interact with all the members of the communities.

Friendset is a social network as well. Each member of the community is a relay to all his friends. Once you have clicked on a profile, you can access the profile of all the friends of you friends. Sometimes you realize that a friend of a friend is also your friend etc. Friendset is a social network where members are linked together.

Friendset logo

As far as I am concerned, I am a member of a special social and belgian network called Parano.
In order to enter the website you must be invited by a friend. The network is a virtual world led by a computer. Members must be happy. Ads are prohibited on this totally independent and free website. You can choose an area (Art, music, photo, your city…) Each member has a color :

- Infra Red : You are a potential liar. You must prove that you are honest and that your interest is happiness.
- Red : You have been upgraded by upper members. You are a member of the community
- Orange : You have more functionalities (access to forums) (I can’t tell more about it).

exclusive picture of The computer, king of Parano community

Those social networks are good because it is a good way to meet people of same interests. It is also a great way of using the possibilities of Internet. The problem is that more and more brands get interested with those communities because they can touch a lot of people easily. That is why myspace has been bought by Rupert Murdoch.

Scheme of a social network