The concept of social media network is relatively new. It only started to grow in usage in 2006. Some of the more popular social media sites include Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. These sites can be an enjoyable way to meet new friends or reconnect with old ones.

Most of the social media sites require that you complete some sort of sign up process to become a part of the site. Most of the sites do not charge to join. They will want to know your age or year of birth to see if you need parental permission to join. You may be able to use an alias or be required to use your real name, according to the site’s policies

Once you have signed up, you will be able to send friend requests on the site. If a person accepts your friend request, you will be able to read his or her posts and they can read yours.

You need to be aware that one post you make may be read by thousands of people, even if you only have a relatively short friend list. when you make a comment on a friend’s post, that comment is visible on all to all of his friends. In addition, it is visible to all the friends of friends that make a comment on the same posts. Additionally, if you make a post, your post can be seen by the friends of all persons that make a comment on your post.

As you can see, social media can be a very powerful tool that is used for your benefit or harm. If you make good posts that are seen by thousands of people, that can be very good. However, if you make an inflammatory remark or an embarrassing comment, that too can be seen by many people, some of whom you do not want to see the comment. This has been very detrimental in some cases when persons are applying for a new job. Employers are now using social media networks to check up on you.

Social media networks are being used by network marketers to build followers. If done properly, marketers are able to build up trust and develop friendships that may help them to build their business. If the social media net work is not used correctly, then many of the other users will simply see the marketer as another source of spam and will block him and his comments from their page.

If you violate the rules of the social media site, you may be removed from the entire site.

Social Media websites have grown phenomenally in recent years. Millions of people use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. to connect with their virtual friends and share important tit-bits of their life. Wikipedia estimates that 1. 5 billion people use social Media websites. This speaks of the enormous power of social sites in terms of its reach.

It has become possible to keep track of friends and their activities on these social media sites. For example, If Jack is dating Jill, they can post their status on Facebook informing their mutual friends. If they break up with each other, they can post an update informing their friends. A person holding the seminar can send a tweet to his followers on Twitter if there is a change in schedule. This way of communicating has made the entire process of communication fun.

The popularity of social sites has proved the notion that consumer is the king. The consumer is no longer at the mercy of companies if he is not satisfied with their services. He just has to post his experience on the Facebook wall or another social network or share his experience with a simple tweet. Since the communication these sites has potential to become viral, it alerts other consumers about non-responsive company. A complaint on social sites evokes faster response than writing an email to the company.

Social networking sites have become integral part of social life. It does not matter if a person is a customer, producer or a marketer. If he is not using social site he is risking losing his business to his competitor.

Marketers have begun using the social sites to broadcast their message. There have been cases where the company whose product failed initially was able to re-launch the product successfully with the help of social sites.

Ironically, it is estimated that only 7% of marketers utilize the power of social sites. Given their enormous clout in terms of reach and viral nature, social sites have forged way ahead of traditional form of communication like e-mail. The phenomenon of social sites has just begun and it is here to stay for years to come.

There is much more scope for innovation in the technological interface of social networking sites. As the technology progresses we may witness the complete integration of various applications within social networking sites.