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Social networking is the talk of the day. We see it being mentioned with every strike of the key. Social networking websites connect people with others who share similar interests. People can have their profiles online and share media files such as videos, photos as well as music with friends.

The idea behind the social networks is that they operate on many levels, right from the family level up to the level of the nations. They have come to play a very important role in determining how problems are solved, how organizations are run, and the efficiency with which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

Previously, there were bulletin board systems to communicate with people and network with them. This changed and gave way to a more open and personalized system, where it is possible to connect with each other visually and in the most appealing manner.

You would have heard of MySpace and Facebook, which are the top two social networking sites today. Both are innovative in their own way. MySpace is extremely popular and it allows users to customize their pages, share videos with friends as well as embed music. Facebook took the internet by storm when it went a step ahead and allowed people to create widgets for the site. These top social networking sites make people feel at home and this is what makes everyone from young to old feel comfortable about using these sites extensively. It is interesting to note that MySpace founder, Tom Anderson ensures that his friendly presence is felt among the registered users and welcomes each new member of the site by making them his “friend.” (more…)

A sign board says, “Caution: Heavy traffic ahead.” You do not have to travel anywhere to see this. It is right here on the internet. We are talking about “internet” traffic.

Look at the amount of data being processed online day-in and day-out. Researchers say there is increasing fear about the threat that video clips, games, movies and social networks pose to the internet. It is all very well to talk about the benefits of online communication and the immense entertainment internet provides millions of people worldwide but what about the damage being done.

The real problem lies with the bandwidth-sucking content, such as video images on the net. These high definition movies require a huge amount of bandwidth. One minute of video requires around 2MB of web hosting space, and this is with medium resolution. If this video is offered in different formats, the space needed will be around 20MB. For a 20 minute video provided in all formats, it could easily consume 400MB of space. The video monster is a hungry creature that hogs bandwidth. (more…)