10
4.
SHARING INFORMATION
Although people continue using classic online services (email, chats and
videoconferences),
social networks
have revolutionised how we spread or share
information.
We can define
social networks
as virtual environments for communication,
interaction and the sharing of resources. They can be divided into two
groups:
horizontal
or general social networks and
vertical
or thematic
social networks.
Understand
11.
Work in groups. In the text above, why are there quotation marks around
the word ‘friends’? Are there any problems with social networks? How
can we avoid these problems? Have a short class debate.
Apply
12.
If possible, register for a Twitter account and then follow some of your
friends. Create a hashtag about a technology topic. Then publish tweets
about the topic, using the hashtag.
4.1.
Horizontal social networks
The users of horizontal networks form communities who have diverse interests
and a wide variety of reasons for using the application. The most popular
examples of horizontal networks are:
❚❚
Facebook
:
this application allows groups of ‘friends’ to publish both public
and private messages with text, links, news, photos and videos. They may also
share information about how they are feeling or what they are doing at any
particular moment.
Facebook can also be used by companies to give information about their activi-
ties, advertise products and communicate more directly with customers.
At the end of 2014, Facebook had a total of more than 1,350 million users and
more than 860 million active daily users. There is also a Facebook application
for mobile devices.
❚❚
Twitter
:
this social network has some unusual features. Users publish short
text messages (
tweets
) with no more than 140 characters which is called
microblogging
. On Twitter, the relationships between users are not always
bidirectional. For example, you can follow the tweets of another user, but that
person might not follow you.
We can access enormous amounts of information on Twitter. One of the most
interesting functions is using
hashtags
to follow interesting events or topics. A
Twitter app is available for mobile devices.
❚❚
Google+
: this social network allows users to create ‘circles’ of friends in order to
share information. They can share photos and formpublic or private communities.
In addition, an instant message application called
Hangouts
lets users connect
with each other for audio conversations and videoconferences.
ADVANCE EDITION
