Social networking - you've heard of it but do you know the magnitude of what it really means? 

 Social networking happens because individuals chose specific clubs or groups of people in which to hang with because of their individual interests.  These groups can be found in any demographic found smaller, rural communities to the expanding suburbs and metropolitan areas, urban and fast paced.  While social networking traditionally has been done in person at meetings or in the workplace, lately it seems it is most popular online as a means of creating virtual communities.  The Internet has made it possible for people to have friends all over the world brought together by common interests like knitting or rebuilding Ford transmissions.  Universities are even creating virtual learning centers to replace the more traditional classroom.  Where will it stop?

For online social networking web sites become important gathering places.  The web site becomes a channel, a social site for people's virtual selves to congregate.  Once you have gained free access to these social sites, you can begin networking and socializing with others, even start discussing different topics about your common interest.  The key is learning about people from their profiles and even contacting them about their experiences.

Still making friends is only one activity of the site.  By joining such a site you gain access to a privy of information and a gateway to similar sites as well learning something new everyday.  You will be updated, as new postings are included.  Still it is the international atmosphere that so many people become entranced with because it adds a whole new depth to the experience thereby creating global culture. 

Sometimes you will find a niche within the social networking web site because the initial web site was very general and you will find once looking around more specific groups to meet your needs.  Out of this you create your own unique network of contacts and have the power to pick and chose your friends within the virtual community. 

Still you cannot help but wonder about the hidden dangers of online social networking or finding friends on the Internet especially when it comes to our children and elderly.  We here about all the time on the news, beware of scams and lurkers, mainly people claiming to be far from someone they are not like a potential boyfriend.  It is always a word to the wise, be cautious in such situations and monitor underage usage (membership to these social clubs) and viewing.  It is not to say that this danger does not exist in the real world but the Internet has opened the arena to a whole new different type of crime and behavior.  Just like as if you were crossing a parking lot after dark, please beware of your environment and whom you are befriending.  Use your gut in cases where something is off.  It may seem paranoid but better safe than sorry.

Once it seems you have chosen wisely then begin to delve into the new community.  You might want to do a simple Internet perusal for different popular site like MySpace, FriendWise, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, Facebook, Orkut, and Classmates to get a feeling of which one is right for your needs.

It seems that within the last few years, sites like Facebook, Zooped, MySpace and Friendster have rapidly grown in population like gangbusters and this in not just an American phenomenon. According to sources at comScore, a company that measures online digital growth, global expansion of social networks have see significant growth by 25 percent, compared to just nine percent in the United States.

Interestingly enough the areas of the world seeing the most growth with accounts issued by Facebook and MySpace is the Middle East-Africa region.  There is an estimated 18,226,000 unique visitors in that region suggests comScore. As of this summer the number has increased to 30,197,000 unique visitors, a jump of 66 percent from the previous year.  This is amazing growth.

It seems that North American social network users have been early on the scene with Friendster, MySpace and Facebook accounts but the growth has declined. I mean this is very true when compared side by side to the Middle East-Africa region; North American network growth seems very small at only nine percent.

I mean the social networking trend can be accredited to North American culture but in this market per se it is starting to level off and see an end to its product lifecycle.  When left to other parts of the world, this behavior seems far from forgotten or over.  This can be especially true of areas where the American labels are popular and recognized.

Along side with the Middle Eastern and African regions, another rapidly growing segment population for social networking is Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific all of which have seen 20 percent growth since summer of 2007.  Europe alone has over 122 million users for 2007.  This number has increased to 165 million and growing for this year.  The Latin American demographic seems small in comparison at only 53 million users for 2008.  This is with comparison to not only Europe but also Asia Pacific that revivals the west.  The Asia Pacific region grew from over 162.7 million users to 200.5 million users over the course of the past year.  This type of growth in social networks provides an excellent example of how popular this behavior is in some parts of the world right now.

It seems that a person would have a wide selection of sites to chose from or why not try them all.  It seems that out of all of them MySpace and Facebook is ahead of the game while it seemed for a while that

 Friendster was popular but not so much so with North American audiences.  Friendster seems to have a captive following in the Asia Pacific market leaving a large impact and footprint upon the area. From 2007 to 2008, comScore reports that Friendster grew from 24.6 million to 37 million users.  Friendster is growing at an enormous rate in Asia Pacific and is clearly leading the competition.

Really when thinking about it, Facebook is not that far behind.  The social network grew 38 percent in North America over the course of the past year.  That's a relatively modest growth rate when considering that Facebook growth in Europe alone grew 303 percent from 2007 to 2008. Really that just goes to show that North Americans have lost interest.  The Asia Pacific market grew 458 percent from 3.7 million users to 20.7 million in 2008. The Middle East-Africa region grew 403 percent from 2.9 million to 14.9 million users. Meanwhile, Latin America saw the largest percentage growth year over year going from 1 million users to 11.9 million users for a growth rate of a staggering 1055 percent.  Hence this type of popularity and growth for a human behavior exhibits the need to connect in all of us. 

Technology like the Internet serves an excellent medium to facilitate this connection.  Perhaps, in the North American region, the Internet has lost its newness as a tool but still remains a hot new invention for the rest of the world to explore.  This may be why Americans are losing interest but this is all a part of the trend and way of a product life cycle.

For more data please visit from http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1555