One of the latest revolutions on the Internet is social networking. A social network service on the Internet centers on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities. One of the most popular forms of social networking has been chatting however social networking is now developing in a number of different ways. Typically social networking requires the use of software but has become increasingly popular by the use of websites such as Myspace and You Tube.



Social networking is very low cost. The benefit of this has attracted many entrepreneurs and small business owners including Internet marketers. These business users of social networking are constantly seeking to increase their customer base and find this concept a very good way of doing this. Therefore social networking has become for many a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.

One of the great advantages of social networking for business people is that it enables a means of free advertising with the use of banners and text ads. Because the World Wide Web is just that it enables worldwide or international connections so that businesses are not only restricted to the local market but also can reach people globally.

The use of social networking sites is only limited by a person's imagination. Users attempt to attract new contacts in a variety of ways, therefore it is not uncommon for a person who has set themself up on a social networking website to have many people they don't know contacting them to become "friends". This of course makes these web sites open to abuse and many people will create more than one profile and even create a profile for someone without their permission.

The best known social networking sites at present include Myspace, Facebook and Bebo. These sites allow people to create profiles about themselves. Pictures and other information and forms of presenting oneself can be uploaded on to these sites. This is a way by which many people can develop new friends and interest groups. Even politicians are now using these and similar sites to promote themselves to their voters. Social networks usually have privacy controls that allow the user to choose who can view their profile or contact them, etc.

Throughout history games have been used for social networking. The Internet has made games very popular with a multitude of games now available to all. Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings (a global leader in Internet media and market research) said, Take the fact that the online games sector is growing at four times the rate of overall Internet growth together with the increasing numbers online and it is easy to see why companies such as MTV Networks are looking to get a piece of the action.

The success of online gaming has not escaped the attention of smaller entrepreneurs. Perhaps the latest to arrive is a business calling its' online gaming uVme, which means you versus me. The concept of uVme is to combine three of the most stimulating aspects on the Internet, instant online communication, social networking and online games. At the time of the writing of this article uVme has been in its embryonic or pre launch stage and has been promoting the business with vigour. This has led to a membership already reaching towards the 200,000 mark.