Social Networking Sites

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Flickr. These are all sites that each of us have either used in the past or are currently using. They all serve the same function which is to allow us to keep in touch with our friends and family albeit in different ways. Facebook is a site more for mature users such as college students and adults. For new users the site may be confusing because of the layout and the various functions that Facebook offers, but after some use the navigation becomes second nature. MySpace is a site more geared towards younger users like teens. The web page is easy to navigate with everything clearly labeled on the task bar on the top of the page. Twitter takes the status update concept of Facebook and simplifies it. Twitter's web page is very simple and easy to navigate, where you can Tweet on the type bar at the top of the page and check your tweet feed underneath it. Flickr allows users to connect with others not through the use of status updates but through the use of photos. Flickr allows you to upload photos that you can share with others and also to look at photos that others have posted. The webpage for Flickr is simple and easy to use. I haven't used Flickr before but when I checked out their site I found it easy to figure out how to upload photos and how to add friends and browse photos.

Overall, I find that most social networking sites are easy to use and navigate. Even if they are complex after some time, they eventually become easy to use. Most of the sites have the same layout for their webpages where there is a toolbar on the top of the page which is clearly labeled and allows the user to search, post, or upload things to their site. The use of each of these sites vary slightly whereas Flickr is mainly for uploading photos and twitter mainly for short updates. Even with these differences the overall goal is to connect people through the use of these social media mediums and all of these sites do a good job at that.