Introduction
The internet has really grown over time and with the introduction of social network providers, there has been an upsurge in the number of people using social networks on a daily basis. Social networks are designed to be friendly for the users and easy for them to use in order to interact with their friends and keep everyone in their social circles updated about what they have been up to and where they intend to go.
Social networks come in various forms with each network being specialized in handling a certain aspect of social networking such as the sharing of images and travel information in other cases. The choice of a social network for someone will depend on the medium they are most interested in and how often they get to use social networks. It will also make a difference if the social network is capable of mobile usage which brings the experience closer to the user while reducing the gap in accessing such resources.
Uses
Social networks are used for keeping friends and social circles aware of what is going on in the life of a social networker. They are used to share images, videos, text updates, and emotions. From the design of these networks, the social network users can keep their circles updated with short messages or photos of where they are and what they have been up to.
Benefits
The benefits of social networks are maintaining the social interaction between people as well as bridging the gap between people living in a massive digital universe. Sending messages to other users and receiving responses also acts as a means of enhancing communication via these channels and it is no surprise that an internet user will spend a portion of their online time on their favorite social network so as not to miss out on anything that their friends are doing.
Additionally, social networks are beneficial for keeping societies together and updated about everything that is taking place in their spheres of influence. The networks hold a huge potential especially for businesses that operate on the web and are looking for a way of getting closer to their customers and keeping them in the loop about what improvements and new releases are coming from the business.
Downsides
On the downside, social networks are not very effective when it comes to narrowing down information about something such as a personality or a business establishment. This is the reason why internet users will be limited to what they can share depending on the specifications of the social networking site they are on.
With this in mind, it pays to do some research on a social network and all its ins and outs before venturing ahead to start making use of the network for your personal or business activities. This is what makes the social network users very good at using one network and completely unaware of another social network and the functionalities that come with it. In short, social networks can be both good and bad based on what you expect out of them.
