social networking sites

THE EVOLUTION OF

COMMUNICATION

THE EVOLUTION OF

COMMUNICATION

THE SOCIALNETWORKING SITES

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. A January 2009 Complete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users. Facebook launched a high-school version in September 2005. Facebook later expanded membership eligibility to employees of several companies, including Apple.inc. and Microsoft. Facebook was then opened on September 26, 2006, to everyone of age 13 and older with a valid email address. On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion. In September 2009, Facebook said that it had turned cash-flow positive for the first time. In early 2011, Facebook announced plans to move to its new headquarters, the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park.California.

Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004 by Google, the search engine company. Orkut Büyükökten, a Turkish software engineer, developed it as an independent project while working at Google (required by its policy). While previously working for Affinity Engines, he had developed a similar system, InCircle, intended for use by university alumni groups. In late June 2004, Affinity Engines filed suit against Google, claiming that Büyükkökten and Google based orkut on inCircle code. The allegation is based on the presence of 9 identical bugs in orkut that also exist in InCircle.

Dorsey introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group. The original project code name for the service was twttr. Work on the project started on March 21, 2006, when Dorsey published the first Twitter message. In October 2006, Biz Stone, Evan Williums, Dorsey, and other members of Odeo formed Obvious Corporation and acquired Odeo and all of its assets–including Odeo.com and Twitter.com–from the investors and. In June 2008, Twitter launched a verification program, allowing celebrities to get their accounts verified. On September 7, 20011, Twitter announces that it has 100 million active users logging in at least once a month and 50 million active users everyday.

Skype began in 2003, originally created by Nikalas Zennstrom and Janus Friis and owned by Microsoft since 2011. Video conferencing between two users was introduced in January 2006. Skype 2.0 for Linux, released on 13 March 2008. Version 5 beta 1 for Windows, released 13 May 2010, offers free video conferencing with up to five people. In 2011, Skype partnered with Comcast to bring its video chat service to Comcast subscribers via their HDTV sets.

LinkedIn is a business-related social networking sites. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003. By the end of 2003, LinkedIn’s membership had grown to 81,000, and a staff of 14 employees. LinkedIn catapulted to reach a membership count of 4 million at the end of 2005.. By 2007, LinkedIn had reached the tipping point, with more than 9 million members, a presence in 120 different types of industries, huge strides that led USA Today to describe LinkedIn as “a giant” in the networking industry. Between December 2008 and July 2009, LinkedIn went through three changes of CEOs. Fortune Magazine which, in its March 2010 cover story, featured LinkedIn as the only social site to “fire up your career.”

Social networking

sites, over the past few years, have increased in popularity so

much that many are wondering

why???

FREE OF COST

They do not charge a single penny to create

an account, update status or to upload

pictures and videos…

MAKE NEW FRIENDS

EASY TO USE

Uploading videos, sharing photos, playing

games, chat with friends etc…

LOTS OFFEATURE

S

Social networking sites help you get in touch with those people whom

you no longer meet in your everyday life such as buddies from

school, colleges or work…

COMMERCIAL USE

•Most of the companies are turning towards

these sites for advertisement purpose

•Ads targeted for people belonging to certain area have ultimately

helped the companies in maximizing profit

•Use of these sites for the purpose of targeted

ads and publicity •The geographical

information about a person is known

•Marketing: Moreover, it helps in spreading the

word all over the world

Youngsters often call their friends ‘un cool’ if they don’t have a face book account (or social networking sites). It’s pretty much a basic requirement, these days, if you want to get on with

people. There have been several reports regarding sexual predators and

safety issues due to which, many of the social networking sites have

tightened their policy and security guidelines. Still, social networking sites

can reach to huge number of people with varied interests. As a result,

Social networking sites continue to rise in popularity….

DANGERS

PHISHINGPhishing is the attempt to obtain confidential user information by camouflaging as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, usually in the form of an e-mail or instant messenger. This is where URL spoofing comes into play. Electric communications substituting as messages sent from companies such as eBay, PayPal, Youtube and online banks are a common camouflage for scam artists. The infected e-mails or messages usually direct a user to enter confidential information into an illegitimate website, where the attacker can easily gain access the users details.

CYBER STALKING

Cyber stalking is literally harassing and following another person online. Social networking sites

open up many doors for cyber stalking.

URL SPOOFING

URL spoofing is when one website poses as another website for malicious reasons. This assail involves the

cloning of a legitimate web page, such as a bank site. The cloned site is created on another server under the control

of the scam artist and is created to deceive users into believing they are on a trusted site. Users then proceed

using passwords or account details on this cloned website, allowing the attacker to happily steal and utilize

the information for illicit reasons.

STORM BOTNETThe Storm botnet might not be at the top of the charts

anymore but it is certainly still doing a lot of damage thus maintaining it's spot in the top 10! Other botnets have come and gone but Storm has been impressively resilient, this is

partially due to the fact that the Trojan Horse it uses to infect systems changes its packing code continuously every 10

minutes.

Once the bot has been installed in the unsuspecting victim's computer the bot uses fast flux to change the IP addresses

for its command and control servers. The Storm botnets common method of enticement involves the luring of people to fake financial or banking sites, that are under the control

of a bot herder.

IDENTITY THEFTIn most cases it was found that child

identity theft is a crime usually committed by a member of the family,

be it the money hungry aunt or the irresponsible father. Child identity

theft is a simpler option for identity thieves because it goes unnoticed for

longer periods of time, usually the crime is only realized by the time the

child has to apply to a college or university or even open the first bank account. So the younger the better, new born babies are the best option.

Another advantage in targeting children is that they have clean credit reports enabling ID thieves to take out huge loans in the child's name, and as

a result ruining the child's credit history.

TROJAN

Trojans plant themselves

on the user's computer, and the moment you

Log onto a social networkingsite, it sends automatic

Invitations to everybody on the users contact list.

PRECAUTIONS

•Guard your financial and other sensitive information •Picture social networking sites as billboards in cyberspace •Be cautious about meeting your new cyber friends in person •Think twice before clicking on links or downloading attachments in emails. •Protect your computer •Beware of con artists