Types of Social Networks

There are many types of social networks available.  This fact sheet examines the privacy and security implications of using a few of them.  Most social networks combine elements of more than one of these types of networks, and the focus of a social network may change over time.  While this fact sheet does not address every type of social network, many of the security and privacy recommendations are applicable to other types of networks.

·         Personal networks. These networks allow users to create detailed online profiles and connect with other users, with an emphasis on social relationships such as friendship. For example, Facebook, Friendster and MySpace are platforms for communicating with contacts.  These networks often involve users sharing information with other approved users, such as one’s gender, age, interests, educational background and employment, as well as files and links to music, photos and videos.  These platforms may also share selected information with individuals and applications that are not authorized contacts.

·         Status updates networks. These types of social networks are designed to allow users to post short status updates in order to communicate with other users quickly. For example, Twitter focuses its services on providing instantaneous, short updates. These networks are designed to broadcast information quickly and publicly, though there may be privacy settings to restrict access to status updates.

·         Location networks. With the advent of GPS-enabled cellular phones, location networks are growing in popularity. These networks are designed to broadcast one’s real-time location, either as public information or as an update viewable to authorized contacts. Many of these networks are built to interact with other social networks, so that an update made to a location network could (with proper authorization) post to one’s other social networks.  Some examples of location networks include Brightkite, Foursquare, Loopt and Google Latitude. For an in-depth discussion of locational privacy, read the ACLU of Northern California's Location-Based Services: Time for a Privacy Check-in and their Comparison Chart evaluating the privacy features of six location networks.

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Content-sharing networks. These networks are designed as platforms for sharing content, such as music, photographs and videos.  When these websites introduce the ability to create personal profiles, establish contacts and interact with other users through comments, they become social networks as well as content hubs.  Some popular content sharing networks include thesixtyone, YouTube and Flickr. 

·         Shared-interest networks. Some social networks are built around a common interest or geared to a specific group of people. These networks incorporate features from other types of social networks but are slanted toward a subset of individuals, such as those with similar hobbies, educational backgrounds, political affiliations, ethnic backgrounds, religious views, sexual orientations or other defining interests.  Examples of such networks include deviantART, LinkedIn, Black Planet, Goodreads and Gay.com.