Until very recently, the only way a person could interact with large groups of people or engage in social networking was to have a party. With everyone gathered in the same area, comments and ideas could be exchanged among them. However, now that the internet has taken over as a favored communication tool, these sorts of interactions tend to take place in online social networks. If your company deals with PPC campaigns or search engine marketing, or you simply want to be competitive, you really ought to be familiar with social networks. This article should help.

The basic principle of a social network is that it allows a group of people to interact with one another without having to occupy the same location or even be online at the same time. Social networks allow for the formation of groups such as the one for Dunlop Boots or East Bay High School, and primarily facilitate the continued communication or renewal of communication between people who already know each other, though there is generally some provision for meeting new people via the network as well.

In a social network, the user is asked to create a profile to accurately represent themselves, including their marital status, hair and eye color, stature, religious affiliation, education, and whether they live in Toronto homes or Vancouver apartments. They also allow for the upload of photos, both as a visual representation of the user for his or her profile, but also to share with other users and help them keep up to date on one another's lives. Other functions common to social networks include the ability to post notes, comments, and blog entries, and sometimes even communal gaming or a date matching service.

The most popular social networks are free to the user. These include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked In, Hi5, Friendster, and Classmates.com. However, social networks also manage to be extremely lucrative for their owners. This is made possible by advertising. By adding in only a few ads for cloth diapers or fast food, the company can make millions on pay-per-click and other forms of internet advertising. Some also make money by selling user information to advertisers.

This moneymaking aspect of social networking is where you and your business come in. If you're a Durham Region caterer and you want to advertise, you can launch a pay per click campaign or a straight internet advertising campaign relatively easily on social networks, which will let you control who can see your ads. In the case of the Durham caterer, obviously only users in the Durham region would be targeted. This yields a high investment to return ratio that has more and more businesses turning to social network marketing.