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Social Networking has become very popular during the past few years, but it can still be very difficult to understand for someone new to social networking. The open-ended nature of social networks add to this. Once signed onto a social network, having answered a few basic profile questions, it is easy to sit back and wonder what you are supposed to do next.

The easiest way to understand social networking is to think of it like high school. You had friends in school, and you knew quite a few people even if you weren't friends with all of them, but it's likely that you didn't know everyone.

If you ever moved to a new school -- or if you can imagine moving to a new school -- you start out with no friends. After attending classes, you start meeting people, and as you meet them, you begin associating with those that have similar interests.

Getting started with social networking is much the same as starting at a new school. At first, you don't have any friends. But as you join groups, you begin to meet people, and you build a friends list of those with similar interests.

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Social networking is based on a certain structure that allow people to both express their individuality and meet people with similar interests. This structure includes having profiles, friends, blog posts, widgets, and usually something unique to that particular social networking website -- such as the ability to 'poke' people on Facebook or high-five someone on Hi5.

Profile. This is where you tell the world about yourself. Profiles contain basic information, like where you live and how old you are, and personality questions, like who's your favorite actor and what's your favorite book. Social networks dedicated to a special theme like music or movies might ask questions related to that theme.

Friends. Friends are trusted members of the site that are allowed to post comments on your profile or send you private messages. You can also keep tabs on how your friends are using social networking, such as when they post a new picture or update their profile. Friends are the heart and soul of social networking. It should be noted that not all social networks refer to them as 'friends' -- LinkedIn refers to them as 'connections -- but all social networks have a way to designate members as trusted.

Groups. Most social networks use groups to help you find people with similar interests or engage in discussions on certain topics. A group can be anything from "Johnson High Class of '98" to "People Who Like Books" to "Doors Fans". They are both a way to connect with like-minded people and a way to identify your interests. Sometimes, groups are called by other names, such as the 'networks' on Facebook.

Discussions. A primary focus of groups is to create interaction between users in the form of discussions. Most social networking websites support discussion boards for the groups, and many also allow members of the group to post pictures, music, video clips, and other tidbits related to the group.

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What is Social Networking? - Social Networking Explained

Ovum analysts| December 16, 2013

The social messaging market is rapidly evolving and expanding as messaging players begin to amass hundreds of millions of users. In 2014 we will see further acceleration in user growth, together with a widening in the scope of social messaging services.

More interestingly, in 2014 Ovum expects to see social messaging players challenging the status quo of mobile social networking and media and creating a paradigm shift in social media that will impact several OTT giants.

According to Ovums latest Social Messaging 2014 Trends to Watch report, services such as Line and WhatsApp are mobile first services and are changing the way the consumer interacts with social media be it messaging, voice, games or utilities and widening the possibilities of the type of social services that can be accessed on mobile.

Social messaging 2014 trends-to-watch:

Social media as an industry is undergoing a major transition, one of the key drivers of which is the rapid proliferation of social messaging services. Social messaging apps are mobile centric services, are intuitive and viral in growth, have the ability to reach a wider audience. As new services get added on to messaging apps, we can expect these services to evolve into mobile media platforms with large user bases.

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Social messaging trends to watch in 2014

The age of 30 has become Facebook's largest user demographic.

Social media expert Michael McQueen, in what is described as the 'Levi's Effect', said teenagers were abandoning Facebook for other social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

McQueen said Levi jeans were a cool, young brand until parents' started wearing them and the same thing has happened with Facebook, smh.com.au reports.

In 2012, Facebook was the primary social networking site for teenagers but this year Twitter has overtaken as the number one site.

McQueen said that as teens' log-off from Facebook, people aged 30 and over were logging-in.

He said that the older generation began signing up in 2010 as a lot of these users were parents who wanted to spy on their kids.

He added that now parents were logging in to reconnecting with old school friends and people who live overseas and they have caught the Facebook bug.

Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology, Jim Macnamara, said adults also turn to Facebook while on holidays.

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Teens abandoning Facebook due to 'Levi's Effect'

In the late 90s, the Philippines was known as the texting capital of the world. Our status has been updated recently as the social networking capital of the world, as more and more Filipinos populate social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

(In Doghousediaries quirky illustrated map, What Each Country Leads The World In, our country is leading in social media usemuch more preferable than Russia, known for raspberries and nuclear warheads.)

For a country plagued with natural disasters, social media has proven to be a very effective tool in mobilizing both government units and citizens to provide aid to areas in need.

The mother of all typhoons, Haiyan/Yolanda, left a devastated Visayas. Radio silence ensued as communication lines were cut off, and Taclobans terrain flattened. As the supertyphoon left the province in shambles, the social media storm surge began.

#reliefPH

Providing immediate relief to the devastated was everyones priority, and people immediately took to Twitter and Facebook to gather donations, goods and volunteers. Transportation was a problem, as roads and airports in Tacloban were destroyed.

Aid was ready, every able soul ready to lend a hand, but the logistics proved to be a nightmare. Again, people on social media offered up planes, ships and automobilesanythingto help.

Hashtags #reliefPH and #rescuePH, which have been used since Ondoy, are now standard hashtags people on social media use.

Calls for volunteers are ongoing, as refugees continue to arrive in Manila looking for food, comfort and shelter. Several Facebook groups such as Operation Salubong Villamor Air Base have been set up to help organize volunteers into shifts and duties.

#searchandrescue

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#Yolanda: How social media ruled in a time of tragedy

Posted December 13, 2013

LeBron James (left) and Kobe Bryant (right) were among the most retweeted athletes of 2013. (Sun Sentinel/Getty Images)

Twitter announced this week that four of the social networking sites top 10 most shared sports tweets of 2013 were posted by NBA players.

Heat forward LeBron James, Knicks guard J.R. Smith and Lakers guard Kobe Bryant all appeared on Twitters top 10 retweeted sports tweets list, which also included messages from a soccer player, United States Soccer, a college basketball player and an NFL player. A retweet is a way for Twitter users to share someone elses content to their followers.

James, the NBAs reigning MVP, had the NBAs most retweeted message of the year back in February when he responded to ongoing comparisons with Michael Jordan.

Im not MJ, Im LJ, James wrote. That simple declaration has been retweeted more than 76,000 times, ranking fourth among all sports tweets. James would later discuss his Michael Jordan moment during the 2013 Finals in a Sports Illustrated cover story.

Smith followed one spot behind James for a trash-talking reply to then-Nets forward Kris Humphries, who talked a little smack about Brooklyn getting a win against New York at Madison Square Garden.

Big game tonight! The Garden got really quiet on the way out, Humphries wrote.Smith replied: Wasnt quiet when Kanye tore it down last month!

Humphries divorced reality television star Kim Kardashian after a 72-day marriage; Kardashian is now engaged to West, a popular rapper and producer. Smiths quip produced more than 62,000 retweets.

A late-arriver to Twitter, Bryant was the only NBA player to appear twice on the list. His first tweet The antisocial has become social #mambatweets produced more than 50,000 retweets, ranking eighth on the list. His most popular tweet, though, was a jab at Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who had wondered aloud whether the Lakers should use the amnesty clause on Bryants league-leading salary in response to new luxury tax rules put in place by the leagues Collective Bargaining Agreement.

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LeBron James, Kobe Bryant rank among 2013's most retweeted sports tweets