My study of social network

For the past couple of years, I have been a member of Facebook, Orkut and Twitter social networks. As the time passed on my attachment with Orkut has faded. But I am still very much enchanted by the other two networks viz., Facebook & Twitter.

My list of criteria to focus these networks have been the following:

• What exactly user want the world to know.
• How frequent are the user visits.
• Are the updates are more in-regards to general purposes.
• How much new information the users can get.
• Any use in educational and teaching fields.
• Only personal information is being shared.
• How many new apps and pages are being created, and what domain they belong to.
• What kind of tweets get re-tweet.

I will post my summary pretty soon!!

Social Networking Services

As I have stated in my previous blog entry social network is now a big part of every one's life. Currently there are number of social networks are available for the users. And they are categorized too. Some for people older than 13 years and some are for ages 18+. For finding friends (new or old acquaintances) to dating, education to fun .. all types of networks are available.

Down below I am listing some of the famous social networking sites currently very popular with users:

• Facebook: This is the most famous social network with more than 845,000,000+ registered users. In this one can post status updates, photographs, videos, create pages , create apps, create polls, play games etc etc. This network is open for any one to join (13+ yrs) and gives different options for the user to select security levels.
• Twitter: Twitter is a popular social network which allows the user to micro-blog, generate RSS and do the status updates. Unlike Face book, twitter allows user to enter only limited number of characters for updates. This service is more famous for teaching purposes. It has around 300,000,000+ registered users.
• Google+: Google+ is a very recent social network by Google Inc. I have not used it much but lot of gmail users are now using it. It has around 170,000,000+ users. This network also allows the users to update their status, which will allow all the friends and family to get up to date information.
• Linkedin: This network is for business purposes. i.e, It is a business and professional networking sites. In this network user can update their professional information and keep business contacts as friends. This network is helps recruiter and agencies to find a professional and perfect candidate for the jobs.
• Orkut: This network is very similar to Facebook. But unlike facebook, users of orkut cannot create apps. But they can update status, photographs, videos just like Facebook. This network is very famous in India. And this is currently acquired by Google Inc. 
• Flickr: This is a photo sharing network. The registered users can comment on other public photos, upload photos in best resolutions. One can register as a new user to this network or as it is acquired by Yahoo Inc., the user id of yahoo can also be used for log in. 
• Geni.com: This network is very interesting in my opinion. In this network user can find and create the family tree. 
• Livemocha: This networks helps the users to join a community of people who are willing to learn new languages. So the native speaker can help them with language. 

So many other networks are also available. To read more about them visit Wiki Page Here!

Social Network - Impact on Current Society

In current world social network sites became one of the necessary things for internet users. There are a number of social networking sites are available today for example, Face book, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Reddit etc..

These social networks have a huge impact on current society. They have changed the ways of communication. Before social networks if one want to share information they need to call or send a bulk mail etc etc., but with the help of social networks with just one message or as one can say, with one click of the button the whole world can know about the info.  Not only communication, the way of how one creates a invitation or polls also changed.

Social networks have a huge impact on the teenagers, one must say. They want the world to know about their where-abouts, new things that they have thought of, share the music that they love to hear etc etc. Now-a-days it is very hard to find a teenager who does not have a twitter or Facebook account.

The way of Recruitment world is also being impacted by social networks. With the professional networking it became easy to recruit people of good technical credentials without going through the hassle of recruitment agencies. One good example of these type of social network is Linkdin.

Entertainment industry also bloomed with the help of these social networks. The new and upcoming artists who want to showcase their talents, are using these networks to let the world hear about the talent. As the word flies faster with these sites this will create an opportunity to become famous. Example of one such artist is Justin Beiber, he became so popular by uploading a video to You tube.

Marketing Industry is also using these social networks in a best possible way. As these networks create a platform for advertising which will allow it to reach millions and millions of people without much effort and it is very easy to use.

People who do not know anything about creating a websites are also using these networks to share the knowledge they have. For example, if one knows how to cook (French cuisine for ex.) and does not know A,B,C of web designing he /she can create a page in Facebook. It is very easy to create.

The above are some of the impacts of Social Networks, as the time goes on, I am sure that these networks will open the doors to more fascination and exciting features.

Optimizing Images for Web - corrections

To further reduce the image file sizes I have proceeded as follows:

For Austronaut image:
I have reduced the indexed colours to 4 and image quality to about 30%, as this is a photographic image even though I have reduced the colors and the quality, the image can be visible perfectly.The thumbnail occupies only 8KB and image of 500X500px occupies only 37KB.

For Bunny Image:
I have flatted the image keeping the same file dimensitons. And I have also changed indexed colors to 4 and resolution to 72pixels/in. The resultant image has a file size of 16KB and thumbnail occupies only 8KB.

For Asian Image:
I have flatted the image keeping the same file dimensitons. And I have also changed indexed colors to 4 and resolution to 72pixels/in. The resultant image has a file size of 8KB and thumbnail occupies only 4KB.

Social Network - Characteristics

Now-a-days social networks are like air, water and food for people. One cannot live without sharing what they are doing or what they are going to do and tell the world about their achievements. And one question always haunts a novice.. that is "WHAT EXACTLY IS A SOCIAL NETWORK???"

According to WIKI "A social network is a social structure made up of a set of actors (such as individuals or organizations) and the dyadic ties between these actors (such as relationships, connections, or interactions)." Speaking in normal words... A social network is a place on web like a website where group of people can share the information, send personal messages or collaborate with the world by using only minimal amount of words. Various examples for social network are Twitter, Facebook, Linkdin, Myspace etc etc.

What are the main characteristics of social network? This is the question of vital importance.

• A social network is a user oriented website. What I mean by this is.. the users will build the network by connecting with friends, family and acquaintances. So when ever the user upload the new information that can be read by others and inturn others can also participate in the discussion or they can leave a comment, Unlike the normal websites where only one user uploads some information and world can read about that. Normal web is not build on network. Social network makes the life more colorful in the sense that any one can take part in the discussion which will show a new angle or concept in one simple discussion leading to new information.
• One more fascinating characteristic of social network is the interactiveness. Unlike the normal chatting services they provide gaming, polling etc etc. Which makes it more fun to use. For example there is a game called FARMVILLE which was very popular in Facebook. In this user friends can also participate in the game, like a online multiplayer game. 
• User can get emotional security with social network unlike normal websites. When ever one feels sad or angry about something they can update their status and friends and family can see that immediately and can give precious advice which will assure the user. So no matter what happens there will be friends with in the reach.
• A social network is also community based. This will create an opportunity for the people who share same kind of interests to share and to discuss about their interests. For example if one likes tennis, in that community all of the tennis fans can collaborate and share their thoughts , likes and dislikes.  This will lead to exchange of new information. 
• New relationships can be build by A social network. This will lead to human network, which will open the door to new horizons. New people can meet to be friends , to be life partners etc ..
• Meeting the old friends is also possible by Social network. For example if there is a school page then who ever had attended the school can join the page and meet the old friends. 

The above are main characteristics according to me. Even though one can argue or agree with the above, one cannot fully describe the characteristics of a social network. Because it is rapidly growing. Now one can create apps, pages etc which will help in developing business.