What exactly is a social network?
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… all these are nothing but different social networking websites. But what exactly is a social network? Just like you interact with your friends and family on a day to day basis, a social network is a platform which allows you to send and accept information. It is a web of different interactions – both social as well as personal.
Social network is not limited to humans!
Recent research has shown that the concept of a social network is not limited to us humans. Ants, through their colonies, have exhibited social behaviour, a belief which was earlier limited to humans. An ant colony is a series of complex tunnels and chambers, shared together by the colony. They use a system of chemical signals to communicate with each other. These pheromones are transferred between ants using their antennae. By doing this, they are sharing important information to help one another – to sense food, protect themselves from predators or share where they have previously been.
Communication in ants
Through the passing on of pheromones, ants are able to optimize the manner in which the colony functions. Ants in search of food for the colony have information which guides them in the right direction.
This shows us how ants created a social network long before we had Facebook!