Contrast With Social Network Accounts
Both individual, personal web sites and personal social networking accounts give the user a personally customized Web presence. In the 21st century most casual internet users join free social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace accounts to serve many of the same purposes as a personal webpage without having to study web design. Yet that prerequisite in many cases does not exist, where the Web hosting service provides more help and simple solutions to Web page creation. Social network's prefabricated "black box" structures are much simpler to begin using and navigating, but impose limitations to formatting, amount of content, type of content, etc. For example, most social networks have rules regarding casual users uploading audio files to their account. Furthermore these companies intentionally retain the specific service's look and feel and identity of each user personal account within that corporate social network. The emphasis there is on being part of a branded "network," not on the "personal," or the individual. Thus, these accounts are not normally thought of as (personal) web sites or home pages.
There are other differences. Unlike actual personal web pages, social networking services and ad-based "free" web hosting service personnel and nanny-bots can see everything inside the user accounts, and rules are enforced by the firm, not by the courts as would be the case with a personally owned, full-featured personal web page. However some social services allow the display of almost any content or media produced by the site's creator. This avenue of distribution satisfies most amateurs and aspiring content creators. Web site creation tools permitted by some companies have the potential to allow users more flexibility.
As a rule of thumb, the amount of creative freedom one is allowed in creating a personal Web page can be predicted by the site's URL. A pure URL similar to www.yourname.com predicts total ownership and the resulting rights. But a shared-name URL similar to www.yourname.home.othercompany.com suggests account rental and regulations which benefit or protect Othercompany Inc.
"Free" sites based in advertising revenue face the dilemma that while relaxation of the rules encourages users to post their feelings and content with less fear of being censored or shut down, it also increases the risk of an offended sponsor pulling its sponsorship. With more upload and content freedom comes an increased risk of copyright and other lawsuits. With a freedom of infinite personal choice would come a loss in page uniformity. In short, if a social networking company allowed total personal freedom of content, it also risks a degradation of its own look-and-feel, branding, function, and profit. Yet this balance of interests seems to currently be leading toward more user choices and a narrowing of the differences between personal web sites and other personal web presence providers.
Read more about this topic: Personal Web Page
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