Social networking has evolved in the past few years to cater to the demands of the users to improve the user’s experience. Through these changes, the identity of a social network is established that users of the social network could now identify a social network without the website telling them who they are and what they do.

Because social networking websites have identities, they now have components that distinguish them from other online services. These components are virtually untouched as the changes in different social networks are practically cosmetic. A few things are also integrated in social networking which is added to address the needs of current users. Even with the additions, the basic structure of the social network that is already established will stay the same for a very long time.

Basic Structure of a Social Network

A social network is practically a tool or a website wherein users are encouraged to sign up (usually for free) and connect to friends and acquaintances who are also members of the social network. Because it deals with connections within friends and acquaintances, the basic component of a social network is its focus on certain locations or supported by like minded individuals. Meeting people online has now increased because of social network but the connection is not just based on coincidence. Social network connections are basically within people who seemed to be far from each other but would still prefer to have a connection anytime.

What was just described is an external form of social network wherein users are free to create profiles and share their profiles with others. But another form of social networking is also available. The internal social networking or ISN, is usually a small social network that does not just allow anyone to be part of the network easily. They usually must be recommended first by a member of the network to gain approval.

Social Status as a Major Part of Structure

Social status may look like a simple part of the social network but it speaks so much about the behavior of the individual as well as expected interaction. Through social status, like minded individuals could come together and even communicate beyond social networking because of the similarity on social status. When there is similarity, the chances of knowing more about the other person also increases. A status is practically a gateway to more information that increases connectivity to other members of the social network.

Standard Features in Social Networking

The popularity of social networking today will not be achieved without the basic features found in their websites. Almost any social networks have the standard features which makes them part of the social networking group. Without these features, they cannot be regarded as a social networking website.

The most important feature of a social networking website is the ability to create personalized homepage. Through this homepage, personal information and preference is shared. From location, hobbies and even simple preferences could be added. This data is then used by social networks to connect the user to like minded individuals if they chose to.

Another basic feature of social networking is the ability to add friends and contacts in their personal homepage. It is through this homepage that more people could connect to others. They might not be familiar with each other but a request could be made so that more information could be known.

Part of the simple features of the social networks is their ability to be integrated with applications or widgets. These add-on applications and widgets, interaction also increases interaction within the website.

Additional Features in Social Networking

But not all social networking websites are the same and the main factor that differentiates each social network is the additional features each social network adds. These additional features do not necessarily enhance the user experience but they have been proven useful for specific users. For example, there are social networking websites today that offers a username and password that could be applicable to other social networking websites as well. Others are focused on increased security of the application to prevent data attacks.

These are the structures of a social networking website. A social networking website will always have users within the same location or have the same hobbies. The social network will always emphasize on social status and lastly, a good structure of social networking provides additional support for users for better communication.