social network

social network (plural social networks)

1. (collective, sociology) A network of personal or business contacts, especially as facilitated by social networking on the Internet.
   • 1989, Deborah Belle, Children's Social Networks and Social Supports, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 1:

     The social network of interest in this volume is the personal social network that is centered on a particular child. Definitions of social network draw attention to the ties or linkages that connect individuals (and sometimes groups or institutions)—linkages that can be conduits for diverse resources.

   • 2023, Teddy Cruz, Fonna Forman, Socializing Architecture: Top Down / Bottom Up, page 60:

     Civicizing public spaces is an antidote to marginalization and exclusion, and it requires that we restore linkages between municipalities, social networks, cultural institutions and communities.

2. (Internet) A service allowing users to manage and interact with their network of friends or contacts on the Internet. (Called a social network application in precise usage that reserves social network to its original sense.)
   • 2011, Charu C. Aggarwal, Social Network Data Analytics, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page xiii:

     The trends in recent years have focussed on online social networks, in which the social network is enabled as an internet application. Some examples of such networks are Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace.

• social network on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• social networking service on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Unadapted borrowing from English social network.

social network m (invariable)

1. social network

   Synonyms: rete sociale, social

   • 2014, Francesco Tissoni, Social network, Maggioli Editore, →ISBN, page 79:

     Ogni giorno, in ogni parte del globo, oltre un miliardo di persone, da dispositivi mobili o da computer, accedono ai social network: e, da qualche anno a questa parte, proprio i social network sono fra i siti più visitati al mondo.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• rete sociale on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it