The Most Interesting Social Networks.



Facebook

Facebook is known to almost every internet user. Facebook is a global social network, which hundreds of millions of users use to connect and share content. Currently, Facebook has more than 900 million users. After registering on Facebook, you may create your own personal profile and add friends that you want to share status updates, photos, videos or chat with. Furthermore, there are Facebook Pages, which you can ‘like’ to become part of a community that has a common interest – favorite actor, popular brand, favorite company, etc.

Twitter

Twitter is a social network, but is drastically different than Facebook. It is a micro-publishing system, which allows you to compose short messages of 140 characters that are known as Tweets. To create your own Twitter community – you can ‘follow’ someone in order to receive their Tweets in your news feed or you can be ‘followed’ by others and they will receive your Tweets. Another special characteristic of Twitter is the use of hashtags in order to reach a larger audience.

YouTube

YouTube is not considered a social media platform, it has social media characteristics and is very popular, thus making it worth mentioning. YouTube is a video-sharing website where you can view, share, upload, comment on, like or dislike videos. The majority of the content that is uploaded to YouTube originates from individual persons. However, there are many official YouTube “Channels” for companies, bands, singers, etc. In order to upload, comment or like/dislike videos you have to create a YouTube account. However, unregistered users are still allowed to watch videos.


LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social network designated for “professionals.” This means that part of your LinkedIn profile that is most important is your career, jobs, education and other skills. Many users are no longer sending the traditional Curriculum Vitae to their potential employers; instead they are sending them a link to their LinkedIn profile. Surprisingly, many employers are even requiring job candidates to provide their LinkedIn profile with their cover letter. Besides allowing you to publish your CV, LinkedIn allows users to join groups, use applications, post your business references, and search for any type of business contact. Additionally, this business social network is an invaluable tool for managers and human resource directors. This social network helps many HR officers and headhunters search a large pool of potential employees.


Instagram

Instagram is also a relatively new social networks – launched in October 2010. It is a smartphone application that allows you to take photos, apply various digital filters to a photo, and you can share them with other users on Instagram or other social networks. What differentiates Instagram from other services is the square shape of all the photos, in comparison with the usual 4:3 ratio from regular cameras. In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for a billion dollars.