Lessons Learned from Week 1 Continued

Social Network

Definitions:
Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms. It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary - Wikipedia

Network as defined by wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn is an interconnected system of things or people;

Social networking is the grouping of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighborhood subdivision – http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/
A very good example, if we were to follow the description of a ‘society’ as narrated by Wikipedia is the society we live in i.e. we are co-existing with other living things whether we know it or not or even if we have volunteered to or not.

My View
Now, combining that with the definition of ‘network’ being the interconnection of systems, groups or people, it can be said of social network that it is a continued voluntary connectivity amongst individuals and groups. These social networks can either be physical or online. An example of a physical social network could be our local running club who come together once a week to enjoy the sport or to train for a more competitive purpose. Examples of online social networks we may be familiar with are: Facebook, MySpace etc