Social Networking --A New Paradigm

One of the innovations in the internet space is social networking. Organizations are taking a fresh view on its scope for marketing communication and positioning to selling. The time has come to get into SOCIAL NETWORKING BAND WAGON. “Social Network” was first coined by JA Barnes in 1954 classic, Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish. It generally denotes “ a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds”. Management Science Research has long studied to understand social networks mainly in the area of organizational behavior and human resource management. The internet has given a new twist to social networks. Time-constrained citizens are becoming social “netizens” with a vengeance. Relationships are sought online from like minded persons across the globe. We call these social networking sites. Some of the popular social networking sites are: MySpace.com ,orkut, B-YANKS, etc. Unlike a traditional website or an email service , these sites resemble a real-life club. People can join different clubs depending on their affiliations. People look for relationships in these sites rather than pure information or plain vanilla communication. A music love can form a group of “like tasted” individuals who can chat, discuss and share files ( both text and video). Most of these sites are free. Unlike a traditional site, these sites allow for greater interaction. Many users, use the space to be in touch with their near and dear ones.. There is a change in the electronic media consumption habits. Even as social networking sites expand, there are some interesting trends that can be observed. One of them is that adult and youth users vary in their usage pattern of social networks. While Orkut and B-Yanks are common choice for both age groups, youth seek more variety with such sites. The best part about these sites is that some of them like B-yanks also provide with free mobile email access, uploading & viewing videos and chat facilities. That means you can remain connected with your friends and relatives through your mobile phone. You can chat, view text and videos of your dear ones, all at the same time without having the need to go to your PC. Social networking sites are expanding at 30% per annum. As they do so, the type of sites and the people who use them are also changing. Sites like MySpace, Face Book, Mypopcorn, etc remain popular with a bias towards music, films and relationships. While others like B-Yanks is more popular amongst all age groups for its free web and mobile based services include chat, music, video uploads ,free email access and much more. Various organizations across the world are trying to get into the Social Networking Band Wagon as they find such sites as lucrative places for tracking down the market trend. It could also be an experimental communication channel for trendy youth. After the Dotcom burst, many marketers and business managers have given up on the internet.. Although Google is successful and echoes of Yahoo users are heard at times, a business manager is the most unlikely face in that Internet loving crowd. . For many business marketers , social networking sites are the best places where they can get closer or catch hold of their customers and that too, free of cost. Instead of costly surveys, experiments and focus group discussions, they can log on to the social networking site and look for the customer opinion on their products. It is always pleasant to catch a customer unaware and when he is most relaxed. Monika is veteran in the field of teaching for the past 7 years. She is also a consummate writer and loves to share her views with her readers regarding the technological development. As a patron of mobile email and mobile social networking she loves accessing her emails and socializing on mobile phone. nnn