Social networking sites have been around since 1995 with Classmates.com. It was then followed by business networks and then virtual community networks. The structure of a social network starts off with just one person, normally the creator. Tests are given to close friends to see if they like it. The friends then give their feedback to the creator and he/she adjusts the site to be user-friendly. Once the site has been fixed, the creator allows his/her friends to experiment as well as introduce the new site to other people. Although the number of hits to your page may seem slow, the more advertisement and social people view your site, the more members you may have in your network.
The progress of a social networking site depends on the purpose, features available, security and overall appeal to the society. Some sites will be more successful than others such as Myspace™ and Facebook™. Also, popularity may vary by country: a site that is very popular in Brazil is a Google based social network called Orkut but it is unheard of in America.