Identity in Communities and Networks

Identity in Communities and Networks

We are living in an age where technological inventions are shaping the living standard of people. People are becoming more oriented towards these inventions, and are integrating it in their lives as one of the essential components. Social media networking craze by the people of all age groups especially younger generation is creating changes in their perceptions of viewing the world. Social networking has enable people to interact with thousands of people every day. It has enable people to access the world no matter where they are. People have praised these networking tools to interact with people globally.

Social networking refers to all the resources used to link individuals or legal entities between them. With the advent of Internet, it covers applications known as "social networking service online (Resnick, 2010). These applications have multiple objectives and vocations. They used to be a social network by connecting with friends, associates, and more generally all individuals using a variety of tools in order to facilitate, for example, management of careers, distribution, and visibility artistic or private meetings. Social networking sites have become the focal point of interest for gigantic figures of persons, enterprises, and communal organizations. Social networking sites such Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and many others have offered many benefits to users and business entities that cannot be denied. Social media is bringing people, business entities, and other common localities of interest together to express and share their thoughts (Liebowitz, 2007).

Social networking sites have influenced the younger and professionals greatly. This is the main reason why social networking sites have gained so much popularity in this segment (Resnick, 2010). Seeing the benefits of social sites, orientation of people towards social networking, and rate of its popularity clearly shows that this trend will gain more popularity in future. People merely associate similar statements regarding the use of social websites. Social networking sites have become virtual places where people focus on fun and excitement factors. Main purpose is to communicate with people for fun and pleasure. Social sites networking have provided a platform to people for information sharing, discussion, exchanging valuable moments in the forms of pictures. Many people have been using this medium as a source to find and commute with long distance located people, linking with old friends and class mates. However, some people have been spending time on social sites to find their love partners. People are spending extensive time for connecting with friends and family members (Zelkowitz, 2009).

Social media these days has become an increasingly popular tool for integrated marketing communication. Big as well as small companies are trying to find ways to reach their target customers via websites like Facebook and this channel of advertising and marketing has turned out to be extremely helpful because of the potential of customers to connect with the prospect brands and make purchase decisions. Social media has transgressed all constraints of geography and has helped to bring the entire world on a single platform. The main characteristic of social media marketing ...