Chapter 5: Social Community

Main Ideas
After reading this chapter I was able to learn a few things about social networking, and how social network sites work. This chapter covers how users develop an identity in social networking communities by completing a profile and making it personal. It also discusses how social networks encourage the participation of its users with tools such as share buttons, applications, and activity streams.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Of all the chapters that we have read for this class so far, this chapter I understood the most. I like how it explained social networking sites and what their looking for to remain wanted by the community. It went into depth on secondary content and how things others create we tend to redistribute especially on sites such as Facebook, and Pinterest. However, although this chapter explained the uses of social networking and its relevance its weakness was that it did not thoroughly explain how these sites find their fan base. After a site is created how does it actively establish its presence within the community?

Terminologies
As with the last chapter, after reading chapter 5 I found a few terminologies that I did not know. Such as skins, ambient intimacy, stickiness, vertical networks, friendvertising. Skins is another word used for themes such as colors, fonts, and menu styles. Ambient intimacy refers to our ability to stay in touch. Stickiness (which I thought was a really strange word to describe a social network site), explains how well a site can retain visitors. Vertical networks describes the narrow deep focus of a social networking site and how it differentiates itself from others. Lastly, friendvertising is a brands use of a social network to build media value.

Social Data
Social data can best be described as an analysis a website gives of its users. I HATE social data, it almost makes me feel as if I am being followed or watched. Social networks should not own our social data or be able to see what we do outside of their network to collect our information because it is an invasion of privacy. Any time I am asked for my location for a social media website I always say no because I feel like this is the easiest way for them to come in contact with your whereabouts and the deposits of your digital footprint.

Facebook Friends
Now, I know some people will disagree with me when it comes to this topic but I am not big on Facebook friends. A lot of times I don't think to hard into it when someone request to be my friend on Facebook because 90% of the time if they are requesting me I know them. When asked if I think its appropriate to be Facebook friends with your professor I would say yes. I actually think that it can be used as a tool that is useful to students when it comes to networking and communication.

Facebook Friends vs. Real Friends
In my opinion, Facebook friends and real friends are not the same thing. Facebook friends a lot times are people you socialize with it does not necessarily mean you keep in contact with them outside of Facebook. However, I do believe Facebook fans are real fans, there are a few pages I follow on Facebook that I would consider myself to still be a fan of outside of Facebook such as for local brands, or stores.

Brand Profile
I analyzed a brand profile on Facebook called Material Girls. From this profile I found that it has a variety of assets such as prices, pictures of new garments being sold, and specials. This brand uses Facebook to its ability by giving consumers the ability to see what exactly they hold in store. It helps consumers engage and become more social with the brand. The brand fans on this profile seem very passionate and engaged about their products. I found that most of the brand fans were locals who go to the store often which may be why the profile has gained so much popularity. However, this brand could improve its profile by adding more pictures of the full outfits they display on actual mannequins or models so the consumer can see the products better.

Chapter Overview
I enjoyed reading this chapter the most, it gave me a better understanding of social networks and their uses regarding social profiles, identity reflectors, and branding. I plan to use this knowledge to apply to my own social networks.