A TELECOMMUNICATIONS

A telecommunications network is a network of telecommunications links and nodes arranged so that messages may be passed from one part of the network to another over multiple links and through various nodes.

Telecommunications network links (including their endpoints or "nodes") may in turn be built out of hierarchical transmission systems.

Examples of telecommunications networks are:

* Computer network
* the Internet Network- The internet network is a global ‘network of networks’. The internet is connected via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then becomes part of a network. This network then connects to a larger corporate network that interconnects with several other similar networks through Network Access Points (NAPs). * the Public switched telephone network
* the global Telex network
* the aeronautical ACARS network

Social impact

Telecommunication is playing an increasingly important role in social relationships. In recent years, the popularity of social networking sites has increased dramatically. These sites allow users to communicate with each other as well as post photographs, events and profiles for others to see. The profiles can list a person's age, interests, sexuality and relationship status. In this way, these sites can play important role in everything from organising social engagements to courtship.
Prior to social networking sites, technologies like SMS and the telephone also had a significant impact on social interactions. In 2000, market research group Ipsos MORI reported that 81% of 15 to 24 year-old SMS users in the United Kingdom had used the service to coordinate social arrangements and 42% to flirt.

Other impacts

In cultural terms, telecommunication has increased the public's ability to access to music and film. With television, people can watch films they have not seen before in their own home without having to travel to the video store or cinema. With radio and the internet, people can listen to music they have not heard before without having to travel to the music store.

Telecommunication has also transformed the way people receive their news. A survey by the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project found that when just over 3,000 people living in the United States were asked where they got their news "yesterday", more people said television or radio than newspapers. The results are summarised in the following table (the percentages add up to more than 100% because people were able to specify more than one source).