Social Networking

I. Overview

I want to summary basic knowledge about Social Network to service our work . The content I will share to you as bellow:

• Definition of Social Network
• Advantages and disadvantage of Social Network
• Kinds of social Network
• Measure of social network

II. Definition about social network

• A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set of the dyadicties between these actors

• The use of internet-based social media programs to make connections with friends, family, classmates, customers and clients. Social networking can be done for social purposes, business purposes or both. The programs show the associations between individuals and facilitate the acquisition of new contacts. Examples of social networking have included Facebook, LinkedIn, Classmates.com and Yelp.

– Refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

III. Advantages and disadvantage of Social Network

1. Advantage

• Facilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery.
• Allows employees to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links.
• Provides an opportunity to widen business contacts.
• Targets a wide audience, making it a useful and effective recruitment tool.
• Improves business reputation and client base with minimal use of advertising.
• Expands market research, implements marketing campaigns, delivers communications and directs interested people to specific web sites.

2. Disadvantage

• Opens up the possibility for hackers to commit fraud and launch spam and virus attacks.

• Increases the risk of people falling prey to online scams that seem genuine, resulting in data or identity theft.
• Potentially results in negative comments from employees about the company or potential legal consequences if employees use these sites to view objectionable, illicit or offensive material.
• Potentially results in lost productivity, especially if employees are busy updating profiles, etc.

– Refer to: http://www.shrm.org/templatestools/hrqa/pages/socialnetworkingsitespolicy.aspx

IV. Kinds of Social Network

Social networks can be classified by

1. Purpose of use

• Social Connections: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, My Space, …
• Multimedia Sharing: Youtube, Flickr, Picasa, …
• Professional: LiinkedIn, Classroom 2.0, Nurse Connect, …
• Informational: Super Green Me, HGTV Discussion Forum, Do-It-Yourself Community, …
• Education: The Student Room, The Math Forum, ePALS School Blog, …
• Hobbies: Oh My Bloom, My Place at Srapbook.com, Sport Shouting, …
• Academic: Academia.edu, Connotea Collaborative Research, …

– Refer to: http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/What_Types_of_Social_Networks_Exist

2. Network size

• Small level
• Middle level
• Large level

V. Measure of Social Network

• Listening
  Ex: Radian6, Viral Heat, …
  ->It measure: Capacity of a discussion, …
• Social network tracking

Ex: Facebook Insight, You tube Report, SocialBro, …
->Measure: Followers/fan, engagement, sharing, impression, mentions, …

• Click Analytics

Ex: bit.ly, Google goo.gl, …
->Measure: Engagement, content popularity, interest, effectiveness, …

• Website Analytics

Ex: Google Analytics,Omniture, …
->Measure: Conversion, time spent, content effectiveness, ROI, …

• Click Analytics

Ex: bit.ly, Google goo.gl, …

• Website Analytics

Ex: Google Analytics,Omniture, …

Beside exist some tools to measure some values as bellow: 

Average sent, Average time, links, conersions, sent messages, sent per unit time, total time, conversion, time spent, content effectiveness, ROI, engagement, content popularity, interest, followers/fan, sharing, impression, mentions, visits, visitors, page views, ….