| The original intention of the birth of the Internet is to break the traditional mass media's domination in the dissemination of information, and is to promote people's communication. However, in the stage of Web1.0, the dissemination of information through network, mainly depends on the platform of large-scale websites. The few websites decide on what kind of information to disseminate, when to release and how to release, and it can be said that the few several websites dominate the dissemination of information. The netizen's acquisition of information is mainly through free browse. People can express their views on the network, but they can not be widely disseminated and can not have a significant impact. So the situation for ordinary netizen's passive acceptance of information has not changed. In recent years, new types of network such as Blog and SNS spring up gradually, and have provided a platform for the dispersed netizen. On such a platform, people can choose to release information, to express views. People can organize the individual website according to their personal interest and then spread the contents through the open network. The dispersed netizen turn out to be the organizers, publishers, disseminators and acceptors of information from the prevenient acceptors. The boundary between'editors'and'readers'becomes blurred. This kind of decentralized and more interactive forms of network communication win great support, and some people even conclude that the network has evolved to a new era—'Web2.0'. During this stage, Blog, RSS, Podcasting, WIKI, SNS and other new types of networks come into being, and they all have Web2.0's characteristics, such as decentralized, interactive, and a fuzzy boundary between'editors'and'readers'. SNS, which means Social Networking Services, is particularly unique.SNS is a kind of internet service, aiming to help people to establish a social network. Websites that provide this kind of service are called the Social Network Site, whcih is usually translated as'social networking site'or'social network'. This kind of website is based on the user's social relationships in real life, and tries to develop relationships with friends and the friends of friends in the center of every individual. The theoretical basis for SNS social service comes from the hypothesis of'Six Degrees of Separation'and'Rule of 150'. According to the hypothesis of'Six Degrees of Separation', the interval between a person and a stranger to him or her can not exceed six. That is to say, you can get acquaintance with any stranger through a maximum of six persons. The hypothesis of'Six Degrees of Separation'tells that there is a kind of prevalent'weak link'in social relationships. People can get affiliation to each other firmly through this kind of unconspicuous relationships. Thus, according to this theory, people can aggregate on a certain network platform according to their social relationships.'Rule of 150'derived from the European'Hurt Brotherhood', which deemed that the best and most effective way to organize people is to control the number under 150. The hypothesis takes 150 as the maximum number of people with which you can keep social relationships. And this implies that an individual's strong links of social relationships still comply with Rule 150, no matter how many people he has established weak links with through a kind social network service. Its application in reality is that the number of an individual's social relationships is usually controlled around 150 or below it in a social networking service.The primary function of SNS social networking sites is to provide the network platform for the creation and maintenance of social relationships. So despite SNS can be subdivided into many types according to various standards, their core functions are all to provide the platform for making friends. SNS can be classified into acquaintance-type website and stranger-type website according to its routes to extend relationships. Acquaintance-type website refers to the network platforms based on the factors of the users'acquaintance. For example, Xiaonei website takes undergraduates and graduates as target clients and is based on the relationships between schoolmates; Kaixin website is based on the relationships between relatives, friends, schoolmates and colleagues. This kind websites are based on the users'existent relationships and extend them in the fictitious network society. Users can make further development of their social network through'Acquaintances seek acquaintances; Seek acquaintances'acquaintances'in the existent network. Stranger-type websites refer to the kind of social network sites which involves some people who shares the common preferences, interests, or a certain subject. For example, MOKO website is based on the preferences of photography, film, advertising and other originality industries. This kind of websites is based on a certain theme, attracting enthusiasts who share the same interest on this theme, and then new social relationships can be formed. Acquaintance-type social networking and stranger-type social networking do not distinguish clearly, but syncretize with each other. In the acquaintance-type social network, usually only the first-level social relationship is constructed by acquaintances, and the second-level, third-level and even fourth-level friends usually come from acquaintances'acquaintances. |
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