Social networking

Social networking. Everybody seems to be either doing it or talking about it these days. Social networking sites provide people of all ages with an online environment where they share stories, pictures, videos and participate in chat rooms with friends and acquaintances.

By providing information about yourself using blogs, chat rooms, email or instant messaging, you can communicate either within a limited community, or with the world at large.

Popular social networking Web sites like Facebook and MySpace, Last.fm and Delicious are being used by millions of people every day to communicate and share information with one another.  Here are a few key terms to help you better understand this revolutionary communications phenomenon:

• Social media refers to the tools and platforms people use to publish, converse and share content online. They include blogs, wikis, podcasts and sites to share photos and bookmarks.

• Social networking sites are online places where users can create a profile for themselves, and then socialize with others using a range of social media tools including blogs, video, images, tagging, lists of friends, forums and messaging.
   
• Social bookmarking is a Web-based service designed to share Internet bookmarks. Delicious and Digg are examples of social bookmarking services.

• Friends are contacts on social networking sites, whose profile you link to in your profile.

• Mobile social networking is social networking where one or more individuals converse and connect with one another using a mobile phone. For example, TELUS and Facebook have partnered so that you can use regular Facebook activities like wall messaging, private messaging, pokes, adding friends, posting pictures and writing blogs - all from your mobile phone. For more on how to access Facebook from your mobile phone, visit telusmobility.com/facebook.

Tips for socializing safely online

• Think about how different sites work before deciding to join a site.
• Keep vital information to yourself.
• Make sure your screen name doesn't reveal too much about you.
• Post only information that you are comfortable with others seeing and knowing about you.
• Remember, once your information is posted, you can't take it back. Someone can forward this information and millions of people have access.
• Consider not posting your picture.