Every time we find more information about social networks: new platforms, new functionalities, trends … etc. These tools have radically changed our habits and ways of relating to each other. They have also become the best letter of introduction and a means of communication for businesses, entities and people.

But to be able to take advantage of the potential of these tools before it is necessary to settle the bases well. email list

For this reason, it is important to stop along the way and clarify
Social networks are a digital space in which people, brands and entities (public institutions, companies, NGOs, associations …) can create a network of contacts and interact. This is the main basis of these tools: relate, exchange and dialogue. Establish a bidirectional communication.

I emphasize the concept of “social”, because on some occasion we forget the origin of social networks. We find accounts that look like bulletin boards instead of profiles where conversations prevail.

Let’s not forget that we are social beings by nature and these tools make it easier for us to establish connections. For a platform to be considered a social network it has to have several essential characteristics:

be a network of contacts
be able to have a profile and
that allows to interact (comment, share, create …)
Social networks also help us to promote collective intelligence. We can contribute our bit, in favor of an entire community. Individually we are weaker, through collaboration we will be stronger. The knowledge that a group of people can contribute will enrich the intelligence of an entire community.

These tools have changed us even our way of thinking, from an analog to a digital thinking. This change affects customs, habits, but also the right that we have over our information, about our data. At the moment we open a profile in a social network, we sign a series of conditions that we should not forget in the future management of these accounts.

They also allow the viral diffusion of contents, that is, reach a large number of people in a fast and direct way. Although it is not always easy to viralize a content, it is one of the features that these tools allow us. Sometimes it depends on the ingenuity and creativity, and in other occasions, different circumstances and coincidences can turn a viral content, without expecting it.

The immediacy is another of the features that these tools offer us. This allows us to be able to communicate any incident, warning or event practically when it is happening.

Hence the importance of updating social networks. Especially if we are businesses or institutions it is very important that the contents are updated. If our networks are our letter of introduction or our company, we can not leave them abandoned. This abandonment says a lot about our brand image.

Types of social networks
There is a great variety of social networks and utilities that we can give to these. But before analyzing the different uses, it is convenient, given that the list of social networks can be immense, make a classification of social networks.

We can make different types of classifications, but we are going to use a typology that allows us to classify them in two large blocks:

Horizontal or generalist
Vertical or specialized
What are horizontal social networks?
They are social networks without a specific theme, aimed at all types of users. In these social networks mainly users interact, talk, around any kind of subject.