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A social networking website is a web-based service where people create profiles, form visible connections to other users, and view or navigate those connections. Posting, messaging, and sharing are common features, but the defining idea is that the service organizes people and their relationships into a social network.
What makes a website a social networking site?
The foundational scholarly definition describes a social network site as a web-based service that lets people create a public or semi-public profile, identify other users with whom they have a connection, and view or navigate their own connections and those made by others. [boyd and Ellison, 2008]
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- Profiles: Users have identifiable profiles, which may be public or visible only to a defined audience.
- Connections: Users can represent relationships to other users, often through features labeled friends, contacts, or followers.
- A navigable social graph: Users can see or explore at least some of these connections.
These elements distinguish a social networking website from a site that merely allows people to communicate or publish content. The platform makes relationships part of its structure.
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What is the purpose of social networking?
Social networking services help people make social connections visible and usable. They can support existing relationships, help people keep in touch with a wider circle, and enable new connections. Meeting strangers is not required: users may mainly interact with people they already know or with people connected to their existing network. [boyd and Ellison, 2008]
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A platform’s labels do not necessarily describe relationships in the everyday sense. A connection called a “friend,” for example, may be a colleague, acquaintance, public figure, or someone followed for their posts rather than a close personal friend.
Are posting and messaging required?
No. Posting, sharing photos or videos, commenting, messaging, and recommendations are common features built around the network, but none alone defines a social networking website. The key question is whether profiles and visible relationships are central to the service and its purpose. The European Commission describes personal social networking services as combining profiles, a social graph, and a shared space for social interaction, with the main purpose of building and maintaining personal relationships. [European Commission case document]
How is social networking different from social media?
Social media is the broader category in many contemporary definitions. The OECD describes it as electronic communication through which users create online communities and share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content; its account also emphasizes creating and exchanging user-generated content, typically linked to a profile. [OECD, 2026]
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Social networking websites generally fit within social media, but not every social-media service is primarily a personal relationship network. A service may focus more on publishing, distributing, or discussing content than on users’ personal connections. Definitions can vary by context, so a careful description says whether it means personal social networking specifically or social media more broadly. [European Commission case document] [OECD, 2026]
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How to classify a borderline service
When it is unclear whether a website is a social networking site, assess these features together rather than relying on a single function:
- Identity: Do people maintain distinct public or semi-public profiles?
- Relationships: Can users express connections to one another, and can they view or navigate those connections?
- Main purpose: Does the service chiefly help people build or maintain personal relationships, or is it mainly organized around content, discussion, or another task?
- Shared space: Can people in the network interact through sharing, comments, messaging, or recommendations?
A service that combines profiles, a visible social graph, and a shared social space for personal relationships fits the narrower personal-social-network definition. A service centered on user-created content or communities may fall under the broader social-media umbrella without being a social networking website in that narrower sense. [boyd and Ellison, 2008] [European Commission case document] [OECD, 2026]
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