› Online Social Network Basics
Social networking services such as Facebook MySpace and Orkut profile pages allow users to create a profile for themselves where they can upload a picture of themselves, write mini “biographies” and chat with other users. The linking individual pages constitute a network of friends, contacts and acquaintances. It is extremely popular among young people, and teen social networking is an enormous social networking sphere.
In order to preserve online privacy, most social networking services require that both users must confirm that they are friends before they are linked. If user A lists user B as a friend, then B would must approve A's friend request before A and B are listed as friends. Some social networking sites have a feature that allows users to let other selected “favorite” users to access sites without approval. Most social networks have privacy controls to prevent unwanted visitors from contacting protected users or even viewing their online profiles.