Why People Join social networking sites

Free social networking sites were initially seen as websites that would enable friends to be connected and reconnected to one another. That is one of the main reasons that people join these friend networking sites. Members want to rekindle friendships with old friends from middle and high school, college, and even kindergarten. Others want to keep in touch with loved ones who are now living in another city, state, or country. Since these are familiar people they want to be tied with, members just have to enter the names or the email address of the person when searching in the site.

Other members want to adopt a new personality altogether, and so, they sign up to invite new friends to join their network. Unlike in real life where meeting someone to talk or communicate on a constant basis is pretty hard, in free social networking sites, members can do that with just a click of the button. Those invited may opt to deny the invitation, but more often than not, people approve invitations to also increase the members in their networks.

While some are interested in meeting pals and acquaintances, other members affiliated with social networking sites have an agenda. They want to showcase their skills in writing, music, or business. These innovative and enterprising members are usually checked out via their blogs, videos, and enhanced profiles.

Since free networking sites are open not just to individual, but also group memberships, a variety of clubs and organizations also join to increase their number of members. These free sites enable these groups to build their own profiles and search for members who may already be in the site. Similarly, fan clubs, media, and other institutions also participate in social networking sites to improve their fan and market base, and also to advertise upcoming music, videos, and other products and events. Thus, people who actually belong to these groups recognize these free sites as vehicles for good exposure and a chance to reach out to other potential consumer targets.

Amongst all these, finding someone to date tops the list of reasons why people jump into the bandwagon of free social networking sites. These sites could be said to be incomparable to traditional dating or speed dating in that it instills a certain kind of habit in people to regularly check and activate their accounts. Its effectiveness in getting together the right mix of people or the right pair also remains uncontested because there have been members who actually start to date and even become married couples simply by participating actively in these free sites. In case the person is unlucky enough to come across an uninteresting or too-cocky profile, it is enough to go ahead and move on to the next likely candidate. Moving on is the next best thing anyway, when it comes to dating. Even though chancing on an attractive profile can be achieved in a just a click of a mouse, it cannot be ignored that members have their own preferences when it comes to the person they would like to date. Perhaps, they would want that someone to reside in the same area or to come from the same school or company. Whatever their interests are, it cannot be denied that the probability of instantly hitting it off with a familiar or unfamiliar face is easy with free social networking sites around.

Social networking Users

Young adults, teenagers, yuppies, and other twenty-somethings are the most common and loyal patrons of free social networking sites. Of course, one cannot really dispose of the reality that a lot of people belonging in the aging brackets -- those who are living at home on pensions and those who simply have difficulty meeting new people because of age – are possibly close in the running, but the youth are often the setters of the trend. Since social networking sites are the hottest thing in online communities today, it is just logical for young people to be the main target of these sites. Members surf these sites for sexy men and women, and once they locate a prospect, the dating and asking out begin through the communication tools like messaging and bulletin boards available on the site. Members can also do the initiative and do a shout-out, making known their feelings, emotions, and other happenings in their lives to friends and other people in their networks.

Free social networking sites are not just confined to teens. Busy adults who are usually in their thirties or even forties can also make use of these sites to look for permanent companions or lifetime partners. Some who don't have the time to be active in the dating field just choose to flirt and date online with the young ones who may not be able to see them face to face. Those who are married also utilize friend networking sites as a way to maintain their family contacts and converse with their partners, especially if he or she is abroad, as an alternative to email or chat programs.

People in the arts and entertainment and business sectors use free social networking sites as well. Through blogs or online journals, writers can convey and “publish” their opinions and other pieces to people in their network. Musical artists and bands also join social networking sites to help spread their hits and music style. Other members who want to recruit or promote their products and services may also do so in friend networking sites where they can effectively use the “word-of-mouth” strategy to advertise and entice potential customers to take hold of their various offers.

In essence, any person can participate in a free social networking site. No special requirements are needed and registration is often free of charge. Members who sign up need to adhere to the terms and conditions of the free social networking site in order to keep and maintain their accounts. Such rules include protocols on picture posting; for instance, no nude photos are allowed. Other than that, users can practically do whatever they want, from being the mere center of attention to hanging out online with newfound pals. With the perks of free social networking sites, there is definitely no question why an individual would not want to sign up and be counted.

Social networking Functions or Purposes

Although social networking sites are like dating sites that may guarantee a complete and final solution to a dateless person's woes, they enable people to commune in a common venue. Thus, whatever the personal reasons people have for joining these sites, they would certainly not run out of chances to meet someone and for no charge at all. In truth, these free sites have become the cool hangout of people who are constantly on the lookout for the dates of their dreams. Some, especially those who are not single and available for dating, become members because they also want to look around and browse through attractive photo shots or impressive profiles. When members find a person who seems a likely candidate for a date or future hook-up, contact is easy via friendly introductions, pick-up lines disguised as ice breakers, or simply, instant messaging. No wonder people who join these free social networking sites learn to overcome their shyness, and be more people-oriented, slightly aggressive, and flirtatious almost overnight.

Aside from meeting people, free social networking sites serve as exclusive online communities for members to share their creativity. This is evident in the displayed works and customized options they have enabled on their profile pages. They can post journals or blogs, interests, and wacky or alluring group or solo photos. Social networking sites are also frequented by independent artists to promote their music, videos, or album. If their product deserved a thumbs down, they would instantly get feedback by seeing the comments other site members have made. Notwithstanding that, many underground and up-and-coming artists have become famous by using these social
networking sites.

Members can also play hooky, as in matchmakers, in these friend networking sites. By sending invitations consisting of introductions to a particular person to friends or acquaintances, persons are actually doing their friends justice by picking out someone among the throng of site members who they deem worthy and would be compatible with their friend. Some have actually ended up together just from these plain introductions.

Similar to a regular dating site, free social networking sites are open and can be accessed by people from anywhere in the world. Membership, likewise, is non-discriminatory, so age, race, ethnicity, and cultural background do not really matter. In fact, this fusion of different personalities make the web surfing worthwhile. With just a few strokes on the keyboard, people can actually meet the person they are destined for, or at least, get the date they can bring home and introduce to mom and dad.

Social networking Background

The inception of social networking sites was brought about at the same time that technologies like the internet became available for commercial purposes. Companies were able to integrate these technologies into their businesses and eventually found out that not only do technologies make work more efficient, it also made group activities and gatherings possible. This could be shown clearly in the prevalence of applications like instant messaging and email systems. Rather than have separate programs like these, these tools were instead integrated into social networking sites which were made into complete sites offering membership to people who wish to get in touch with flames and friends, new or old.

In the mid-1990s, the first social networking website, SixDegrees, was released to the public. After more than three years, more sites of this kind followed suit in its adoption of a certain system called Circle of Friends. This technique enabled members to connect to friends and later on, became a huge success in the virtual world. Sites like MySpace and Friendster, launched in the year 2003, was founded on the technique's effectiveness. Now, search engines have joined the pack by creating their own virtual social networking communities, Google with Orkut and Yahoo! with Yahoo! 360.