Social networks are virtual spaces where groups of people or companies interact by sending messages, sharing content, among others.
There are currently different social networks, each with a specific purpose and target audience.
What are social media for?
There are several types of social networks, each with a different purpose and specific audiences.
The big difference between them is their objective, which can be:
- Establish personal contacts, which can be friendship and dating relationships.
- Accomplish networking, that is, sharing and seeking professional knowledge and looking for a job or filling vacancies.
- Share and search images and videos.
- Share and seek information on varied topics.
- Publicize products and services for purchase and sale.
- Play, among others.
Know more about:
- Social relationships
- What is Social Interaction?
Examples of social networks
There are dozens of social networks. We highlight the most known in the table below.
| Social network | Feature |
|---|---|
| Interaction and expansion of contacts. | |
| YouTube | Sharing videos. |
| Sending instant messages and voice calls. | |
| Sharing photos and videos. | |
| Sharing of small publications, which are known as “tweets”. | |
| Sharing ideas on varied topics. | |
| Skype | Voice and video call. |
| Interaction and expansion of professional contacts. | |
| Badoo | Loving relationships. |
| snapchat | Sharing short videos, each having a maximum of 10 seconds. |
| Messenger | Sending instant messages. |
| flickr | Sharing images. |
| Tumbrl | Sharing small posts, similar to Twitter. |
The use of social media in Brazil
Using social networks is increasingly a practice among people. Brazil is known for being one of those with the most users on various social networks.
O Facebook is the most used social network in Brazil, including by companies that take the opportunity to carry out advertising and marketing strategies. This happens due to the wide range of users that the network has.
O Whatsapp It is currently considered one of the main applications for communication and message exchange and, like Facebook, has been used for interaction between company and customer. Worldwide, this social network already has more than 1.2 billion users.
O YouTube is a video platform where the user can comment and interact with other people, which is why it is also considered a social network. It has a very high reach of people, as it allows watching music videos, classes, following programs and various other activities.
O Instagram has become increasingly popular in Brazil. Featuring different features that allow interaction and fun for users, this network was cited as the preferred network by users.
O Twitter was an innovative social network that was very successful. With the emergence of other social networks, and interaction format, it lost many users.
O LinkedIn is the largest social network with a professional focus, where users can publish information related to the labor market, employment opportunities, dissemination of services and, above all, networking.
O Pinterest is a social network that publishes visual content, regardless of the industry, which can be in fashion, art, cuisine, architecture, among others.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media
There are several advantages to being a part of social networks and that's mainly why they've had such significant growth over the years. However, it is important to be aware of the dangers it can offer.
See the main advantages and disadvantages of social networks in the table below.
| Benefits | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| It brings people who live in different places together, as it is an easy way to maintain relationships and contact. | Lack of privacy. |
| Enables real-time interaction. | It requires care in disclosing certain details of each person's life. |
| It facilitates the relationship with those closest to you, allowing you to maintain a close relationship without physically meeting. | Children and teenagers share information about the school and places they attend. |
| It offers a quick and effective way to communicate something to a large number of people at the same time. | It can be addictive, as in some cases people cannot "disconnect" from social networks, leaving important things undone. |
| Allows you to notify about an event, the preparation of a demonstration or the mobilization of a group for a protest. | Fake profile creation to post racist, bigoted and racist comments. |
| Facilitates the organization of events, sending invitations and requesting confirmation of attendance. | Ease of dissemination of news, facts and images without checking the source, which can be "fake news". |
Origin and history of social networks
Social networks are the result of the advancement of the internet, whose boom it happened at the beginning of the millennium. See in the table below how this journey happened.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1994 | The GeoCities, the first community that resembles a social network. O GeoCities which, however, no longer exists, guided people to create their own pages on the internet. |
| 1995 | the The Globe, which gave Internet users the opportunity to interact with a group of people. Later that year, a platform was also created that allowed interaction with former schoolmates, the classmates. |
| 2000 | the Photolog, a platform that, this time, focused on the publication of photographs. |
| 2002 | What is considered the first true social network emerged, the Friendster. In the same year, the LinkedIn, the largest professional social network in the world. |
| 2004 |
The most popular social networks were created, the orkut, O flickr it's the Facebook.
|
| 2006 | Year of creation of Twitter, a microblog that became popular for allowing publications with a limit of 140 characters. |
| 2010 | It was in this year that the app Instagram it was considered a social network, as it allowed users to like and comment on the posted photos. |
| 2011 |
The Google+, belonging to Google services and which linked its users to this network. It did not become popular and its activities ended at the end of 2018. It was also this year that the snapchat, an application that allows users to take photos and record videos in a personalized way, inserting text and drawings. The main feature of this social network is that your videos have a 10-second limit. |
Read too:
- What is Cyberbullying?
- What is fake news?
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