Blog: Social Networking Sites

Facebook is without a doubt the face of social networking sites today. Through Facebook you can keep in contact with your family and friends as well as update information about yourself and share that with who you're connected with. After returning to Facebook for this post, I was reminded of what drew me to the site the most, which has to be its format. Facebook is easy to navigate and its simplistic design prompts you to keep on scrolling to find out whats new on your timeline. I feel this design is what other social networking sites observed when creating their own platforms. Twitter is one site that allows users to easily scroll up and down to find out whats new online. On Twitter you can see what your peers are up to by reading their posts on their page. The site allows users to choose what categories interests them the most when they create their profile. That feature enables Twitter to know what kind of content you'd be attentive to. After submitting the topics I was intrigued with, I recognized that Twitter strategically had articles on my page ready for me to read. This being said, it is still difficult for me to get off of the app since it is tailored to my preferences. YouTube is another giant in the social networking site world. YouTube differs from the more traditional social networking sites because it focuses on videos. However, YouTube is similar to both Facebook and Twitter because it works around what you like. For instance, users can "like" videos and even subscribe to channels that appeal to them. YouTube then suggests different channels or videos based on the ones you've shown interest in already. I've had plenty of experiences where I've spent hours just on YouTube clicking from one video to the next. LinkedIn is a social networking site that differs from the aforementioned platforms. LinkedIn focuses on career development. Its not a place where you should write anything that comes to your mind like Twitter. Unlike Facebook or YouTube, LinkedIn is not the site where you should post family pictures or post videos of cooking your favorite meal. LinkedIn is a place professionals go to to promote themselves. The site allows users to describe what jobs they are looking for and how much they're expecting to get paid. Similarly to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, LinkedIn uses the information input by its members to offer them a service custom fit to them. It is easy to navigate and tabs are located clearly at the top of the home page linking users to job postings or their network. All in all, each of these sites have their similarities and differences. Their interfaces may be closely related but their purposes are what set them apart.