Excerpt from Dissertation :

Large number of respondents will require large number of questionnaires to be given to the individuals and this would have high financial implications.

1.9

Delimitations

Due to the problem of fear of the information that if the Facebook members disclose will be used against them in future, I intend to guarantee them anonymity on any information given and confidentiality by ensuring no names or sensitive information is required in the questionnaires. On the time constraint, the questionnaires will be designed so that it takes small amount of time with few open ended questions. On the financial, the samples taken will be done randomly so that even if it's quite small compared to the whole Facebook membership, it will be representative.

CHAPTER TWO

BACKGROUND

2.1

Literature review

2.1.1

Introduction

Social networking is considered the as the manner of communication in the 21st century. It refers to the individuals grouping into groups which are specific in nature similar to little neighbourhood division or rural communities. Social networking is most popular online although it is possible in person in particular at universities, workplace and high schools. The reason for this is that unlike most colleges, high schools or work places there are millions of individuals in the internet who are after meeting other people, share and gather information which is first hand and golfing, aesthetic, gardening and cosmetic experiences (Albrechtslund 2008, p. 45). There are also interested in establishing professional alliances or friendship, marketing for business and other business, seek employment and even groups disseminating information about Great Shift or Mayan calendar end. Also there are varied interests and topics and rich as the human beings history and society (Adamic 2003, p. 67).

Websites are the ones commonly used in the online social networking and are referred to as social sites. They function like the internet users online community. Common interests are shared by most of the members of the online community but this depends on the type of social networking site and can be religion, hobbies or politics. The socialization aspect of the sites may consist of sharing of information with other members. One of the important benefits of the online social networking is the number of friends which a person can make. Also due to the access of the sites to individuals all over the world, there is increased diversity making the idea of the world as a global village even truer. One can have friends from the disparate points of earth therefore enabling for the learning of novel languages and cultures (Athanasopoulos and Markatos 2008 p. 45).

Specific organization or individuals grouping is a characteristic of social networking sites with some concentrating on particular interests while others are general. Traditional social networking is the term used to refer to the sites without main focus and they have open memberships. The users of these sites typically start to create their own networks once inside the site by considering the friends who the person shares common goals and interests (Agarwal and Mital 2009).

2.2

Profile, Friends and Comments

Profiles are the base of the social networking sites and this can be describe as the homepage of the individual and it offers information about the person. In addition to the images, text and video that the member has created, the profile of the social networking site also consist of comments which have been posted by other members and a list of persons that are identified as friends to that member within the network (Mackay1841). The dating services are attributed for the sites popularized style, the materials contained in the sites typically reflect those of the dating sites like details on demography e.g. sex, age, location; tastes e.g. favorite band and interests,...

The filling of a form constitutes the construction of the profiles. There is public availability of the default profile though privacy features in most social network sites allow for the restriction of persons who can access their profiles. In Facebook the default profile is available to those of the same school or college (Brake 2009, p. 89).

After the profile creation, the friends of the participants are invited by email through the supply of their addresses. The people can also be added to the friends list through looking at the profiles of other peoples and the approval of two people is usually required by most social networks for them to be linked as friends. A confirmation request message is usually sent to the person who has been indicated as friend by another person. In the system the two become friends if the request is for friendship has been confirmed and this connection is publicly displayed in their profiles and typically consists of the names and photos which link to their profiles. Therefore the network can be traversed by the visitor through clicking of these links and thus moving from friend to friend. Another typical feature in addition to the content provided by the members for their profile creation, there is a comment dedicated section whereby the friends can post and its referred to as "The Wall" in Facebook and "Testimonials" in Friendster. This feature can be attributed to the implementation by Friendster whose intention was to allow strangers to read the testimonials posted by the person's friends (Acquisti and Gross 2009, p. 10978).

2.3

YouTube Overview

Founded in February 2005 by former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, YouTube has become the leader of online video sharing through a Web experience. Through internet websites, mobile devices, blogs and email, people are able to upload and share video clips easily through the use of YouTube. It enables people watch videos easily. Through YouTube, people have been able to see firsthand accounts of current events, find videos on their favorite hobbies and interest while at the same time discover the rather unusual or quirky. YouTube is empowering people to become the broadcasters of tomorrow as more and more begin capturing special moments on video. Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has managed to attract crowds, cross milestones, enable the creation of fads, and top lists among other things (Oiarzabal 2009).

2.3.1

YouTube: The Company

YouTube was formed when the founders, on witnessing the boom of online grass root videos, noticed the need for reduce the hustle of uploading, watching and sharing videos. The domain YouTube.com was registered on 15th February, 2005 and the process of developing the site took place in the months that followed at a garage in Menlo Park. It was the launched into a public beta in November, making its debut with a $3.5 million funding from Sequoia Capital. For the site to attract the initial crowd they were looking for that is teenagers, college students, film makers and hobbyists, they developed a contest which gave away an iPod Nano each day to random members and running for duration of two months. The competition was point based where signing up; inviting others and posting videos earned one a point. One increased their chances of winning the more points they had. This contest advertised the site to the masses and gave it a large number of members. It has become a fast growing website at present through hosting segments of SNL, Superbowl, TV goof-ups, and numerous videos among other popular music videos.

2.3.2

Business

The company's business model is based on traditional banner advertising, sponsorship, partnerships and promotions and even contextual advertisements. This means that although free to users, firms have to pay for these services. YouTube has formed numerous partnerships with companies in the media like NBC and the Warner Music Group. YouTube's business has brought up a number of debates with most claiming that it is based purely on copyrighted infringements (Degenne & Michel 1999, p.78).

2.3.3

Bandwidth Costs

YouTube uses approximately 200 terabytes a day that adds up to approximately a million dollars worth of bandwidth bill. The company has had a stronger goal in building a community than in making money. It is believed that YouTube needs to look into its business plan in order to sustain its growth as it is a growing phenomenon (Oiarzabal 2009).

2.3.4

Registration

Signing up for YouTube has been the same since its inception and has not changed much remaining fairly easy. Users can join as different accounts depending on how they plan to use the site. Those who plan to use it generally and that using it to watch videos, a traditional account is the way to go. For entertainers, there are specific and special types of accounts for them, for instance, there are accounts for musicians, directors and comedians. But efforts have been made to accommodate all different types of users. Regardless the type of account a user has, the terms and conditions the up loader of a video grants YouTube non-exclusive access to the video and let it be watched on the internet and…