In Section 1.3 you get a sense of where ICT is leading us in our daily lives. Mobile telephones, tablets, laptops, PCs, Internet and the WWW are all innovations that are able to process information and connect humanity at an incredible speed, 24/7. Gregarious humanity did not need any encouragement to turn all of these technological innovations for governance, business, and education and most importantly for socializing. Today as a species we are connected more than we ever were on this planet.  Enabled by these technologies. people are connecting with other people not just on a person-to-person or person-to-group basis, but more like part of a web that just seems to be growing almost organically. In this section, we will explore how this has come about.

But first I would like you to list the networks that you are a party to in the box below. Against each network, describe its reach. It could be a family network of family members and relatives, it could be a formal professional network of colleagues, or it could be an informal network through Facebook.

Social network sites

It is likely that a number of the networks you are part of are probably family networks that meet periodically at birthdays, weddings and open houses. Some may be professional networks such as teachers' clubs, sports associations and other social networks such as Facebook. It is the last and others like it that we will consider further in this section. Before I continue I would like you to watch the following video on social networks.