$1.$ In the context of today's electronic media, social networking has come to mean individuals using the Internet and Web applications to communicate in previously impossible ways. This is largely the result of a culture$-$wide shift in the uses and possibilities of the Internet itself. The current Web is a much different entity than the Web of a decade ago. This new focus creates a riper breeding ground for social networking and collaboration. In an abstract sense, social networking is about everyone.

$2.$ Social networking is a concept that has been around much longer than the Internet or even mass communication. People have always been social creatures; our ability to work together in groups, creating value that is greater than the sum of its parts, is one of our greatest assets. The mass adoption of social$-$networking websites points to an evolution in human social interaction. At its bare essentials, a social network consists of three or more entities communicating and sharing information. This could take the form of a research coalition, a Girl Scout troop, a church, a university, or any number of other socially constructed relationships.

$3.$ Since the explosion of the Internet age, more than $1$ billion people have become connected to the World Wide Web, creating seemingly limitless opportunities for communication and collaboration. In the context of today's electronic media, social networking has come to mean individuals using the Internet and Web applications to communicate in previously impossible ways. This is largely the result of a culture$-$wide shift in the uses and possibilities of the Internet itself.

$4.$ The current Web is a much different entity than the Web of a decade ago. This new focus creates a riper breeding ground for social networking and collaboration. In an abstract sense, social networking is about everyone.

$5.$ The model has changed from top$-$down to bottom$-$up creation of information and interaction, made possible by new Web applications that give power to users. While in the past there was a top$-$down model of a few large media corporations creating content for the consumers to access, the production model has shifted so that individual users now create content that everyone can share.

$6.$ The social$-$networking trend is causing a major shift in the Internet's function and design. While we previously thought of the Internet as an information repository, the advent of social networks is turning it into a tool for connecting people. The mass adoption of social$-$networking websites of all shapes and sizes points to a larger movement, an evolution in human social inter$-$action.

$7.$ A social$-$networking site typically allows users to post their profiles and create personal networks for exchanging information with other users. According to a Pew Internet and American Life Project report more than half of Americans aged $12$ to $17$ use online social$-$networking sites, $55$ percent of teens have created a personal profile online, and $55$ percent have used social$-$networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. Regardless of whether the information they exchange is serious or frivolous, the underlying Web technology is the same.

$8.$ The mass murder at Virginia Tech on $16$ April $2007$ provides a poignant lesson concerning the functions of social networking. As this tragic event unfolded during the early$-$morning hours, university officials communicated via conventional police radios and telephones. As the scope of the tragedy became apparent, students and peers notified each other via e$-$mail. But students at other schools used Facebook to ascertain the status of their friends attending Virginia Tech, aided by VT students annotating their personal pages with comments such as $$I$\text{'}$m all right,$$I$\text{'}$m safe,$$ and $$I$\text{'}$m coming home. See you soon.$$ This is a perfect example of using the Internet as a way of keeping updated with a network of friends, a function that the younger generation is readily adopting.

$9.$ But will everyone adopt this conceptualization of the Internet as a social platform? The ubiquity of social networking among college$-$age individuals remains largely unappreciated by their parents' demographic. This is a generational issue that will in turn affect how well the modern workplace accepts and adopts social$-$networking concepts. Information sharing, collegiality, quick group formation, and a sense of shared purpose and mission characterize the various Web$-$based social$-$networking applications that today's young professionals commonly use.