r, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks trIn this age of information, there is such a plethora of options available to us as consumers. Hence, the emergence of social networks has fast become the norm in most of our lives. Sociologists have scrambled to try to make sense of these. As a technical person, I, too, have struggled to try and make sense of all this new terminology.( I have to confess to needing to reference the Wikipedia to begin to grasp a lot of these terms I was encountering.) When I think back to the earliest days of the internet and being introduced to 'Compuserve', I found a megatrend that was yet to reach maturity. I thought it was neat to be able to access all this neat stuff in one place, but, at that time, I didn't see much purpose.

Over the years I have surfed the net, I know that, not unlike others, if I found some really great web site that I found useful, I would just bookmark those in my browser so I could refer back at a later time. That list of bookmarks has long since outgrown it's usefulness. Not because I don't still need that information, but because as the net has grown, so have my options and my appetite for more and different information. I honestly believe that there is no end to what can be found online. I see that I have reached a point long ago of what we all call 'information overload' and I am certainly not alone. Creators of content for the net, having recognized this phenomenon, have learned to embrace the concept of the the social network and, moreover, the true value of these entities.

As I recently began to construct a site which I had envisioned years ago, I realized that I had wanted it to serve a primary function, but that function alone was no longer adequate to provide for the needs of the users that I sought. They needed so much more than what I had originally intended to provide, and those needs were constantly changing. It seemed to me as though my concept was already outgrown before I ever started. Looking back, I was correct. At that point, I began to try to envision the concept I wanted existing within the framework of something that was beyond my ability to define. This, of course, frustrated me to the point of finally realizing that my idea was just another social network, needing to be established.

That realization was empowering. I needed to build this network for my entire community, as a resource portal for everything my community is, was, and will become. In essence, I needed to let the users define it's functionality. Certainly, my community was just a microcosm, but no less infinite than any other, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks tru

ss all this neat stuff in one place, but, at that time, I didn't see much purpose.

Over the years I have surfed the net, I know that, not unlike others, if I found some really great web site that I found useful, I would just bookmark those in my browser so I could refer back at a later time. That list of bookmarks has long since outgrown it's usefulness. Not because I don't still need that information, but because as the net has grown, so have my options and my appetite for more and different information. I honestly believe that there is no end to what can be found online. I see that I have reached a point long ago of what we all call 'information overload' and I am certainly not alone. Creators of content for the net, having recognized this phenomenon, have learned to embrace the concept of the the social network and, moreover, the true value of these entities.

As I recently began to construct a site which I had envisioned years ago, I realized that I had wanted it to serve a primary function, but that function alone was no longer adequate to provide for the needs of the users that I sought. They needed so much more than what I had originally intended to provide, and those needs were constantly changing. It seemed to me as though my concept was already outgrown before I ever started. Looking back, I was correct. At that point, I began to try to envision the concept I wanted existing within the framework of something that was beyond my ability to define. This, of course, frustrated me to the point of finally realizing that my idea was just another social network, needing to be established.

That realization was empowering. I needed to build this network for my entire community, as a resource portal for everything my community is, was, and will become. In essence, I needed to let the users define it's functionality. Certainly, my community was just a microcosm, but no less infinite than any other, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks tr

l 'information overload' and I am certainly not alone. Creators of content for the net, having recognized this phenomenon, have learned to embrace the concept of the the social network and, moreover, the true value of these entities.

As I recently began to construct a site which I had envisioned years ago, I realized that I had wanted it to serve a primary function, but that function alone was no longer adequate to provide for the needs of the users that I sought. They needed so much more than what I had originally intended to provide, and those needs were constantly changing. It seemed to me as though my concept was already outgrown before I ever started. Looking back, I was correct. At that point, I began to try to envision the concept I wanted existing within the framework of something that was beyond my ability to define. This, of course, frustrated me to the point of finally realizing that my idea was just another social network, needing to be established.

That realization was empowering. I needed to build this network for my entire community, as a resource portal for everything my community is, was, and will become. In essence, I needed to let the users define it's functionality. Certainly, my community was just a microcosm, but no less infinite than any other, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks tr

efore I ever started. Looking back, I was correct. At that point, I began to try to envision the concept I wanted existing within the framework of something that was beyond my ability to define. This, of course, frustrated me to the point of finally realizing that my idea was just another social network, needing to be established.

That realization was empowering. I needed to build this network for my entire community, as a resource portal for everything my community is, was, and will become. In essence, I needed to let the users define it's functionality. Certainly, my community was just a microcosm, but no less infinite than any other, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks tr

r, it, too, is boundless. I sought to build what became something I termed a community resource portal, because that was it's function. Like a search engine, it searches its own archives. Better than a BLOG alone, it provides interaction, and more effectively than a newscast, its RSS feeds supply up-to-the-minute information. Its functionality is vast and ever-changing.To refer to my social network site as something I wanted my end users and members to bookmark was not enough, I would rather they think of it as their online home. While it is just a social network, it's only limitation is what it's users determine, not me. Social networks truly have a life of their own. Mine just happened to center itself around the ties among members of the local community. I believe that social networks have risen from the need of persons everywhere to establish a social reference point. The reason that they function so effectively is simply that they seek to first satisfy the needs of the core relationship.