What is a "Social Network"?
Let's say they are sites where an individual (or organization) can create an online profile, share pictures, videos, and more, and connect with others in a fast-moving social way. One of the appealing aspects for many people is the connections created by exploring "friends of a friend".
Some of the big names include Friendster, Myspace, Facebook, but also encompass media-centric sites like Youtube and Flickr.
- Article in ARTnews: Up Close + Personal: Socially Networking the Museum
I'm going to talk mostly about the "traditional" social networks like Myspace, and Facebook, but you should take some time to see what's out there. For instance, the Walker has had good success by starting a photo pool on Flickr.com of pictures people have taken in our sculpture garden.
This is a perfect example of "going where the audience is" - rather than starting from scratch and trying to build an audience, we realized there was already a group of people taking the same sort of pictures but they were doing it in a vacuum. All they needed was some structure (our photo pool) to bring them together, and BAM: a community!