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Social Networking… How Stuff Works!

PHYSOrg — For the last two years, the amount of buzz and discussion around sites like Facebook and Twitter has been deafening. And lately the headlines have been especially interesting.

More important, Older Americans are now flocking to these sites like never before. To the point where, last week, three people asked me, “Should I start using Facebook?” These are all seniors who are hearing about social media sites from their friends. They are wondering if they should take the plunge too.

So let’s start at the beginning. The idea behind “social media” and “social networking” is pretty simple. A social media site lets people socialize online. Instead of talking to people at a church dinner, you talk to them on a web site. That’s been possible in simple ways for a long time.

For example, there are millions of “forums” on the Internet. Usually a forum deals with a specific topic, like knitting or car repair or politics. People go to forums to ask questions, answer questions, state their opinions, get ideas, etc. For nearly every subject on the planet there is a forum, and these forums can be a great way to learn new things.

A site like Facebook tries to integrate many different tools together to turn online socializing into a richer experience. Therefore Facebook has forums, and it also has its own email system as well as a way for you to publish your own blog. But the big thing that Facebook offers is a way to connect with your friends and acquaintances.

The idea is pretty simple. Millions upon millions of people have accounts on Facebook. So you look around and find all the people you know, and you connect with them by inviting them to be a Facebook friend. If they accept, they go into your list of friends. This list can be as big or as small as you like. Some people use Facebook to communicate with their close, current circle of friends. Other people connect with everyone they have ever known all through their lives. Celebrities can have millions of followers.

Once you connect with friends, you have several ways to communicate with them. You can email them, chat with them in real time, “poke” them, post messages on their public areas for their friends to see, comment on their photos and posts, give them updates about what you are doing right now, etc.

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