A social network is a social structure of people in relationships. The structure contextualizes the relationships, which in turn both reproduce and change the structure (see structuration theory).
Social network is also the name for a digital platform with which users may form, maintain and build relationships with others who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds, or ‘real-life’ connections. The platform’s social graph is a dominant structure.
Social networking is the digitally mediated interactions of people. While it includes private messaging and chat services, the term often relates to more public forms of interaction. Social networking encompasses interactions on a platform, between platforms, and also solely at the protocol layer, i.e. not requiring a platform.
Decentralized social networking (dsocial) will necessarily encompass DAO governance and nurture good conversation and open design processes for the ongoing viability of the network and constituent communities.