Acquaintances or friends, who’s coming to your party?
Saturday, September 5, 2009 by Joel
The article by Judith Donath “Signals in Social Supernets” got me thinking about my Social Network Site (sns) usage and the connection that I have with those in my personal ‘friends’ network.
What is interesting to note is that with Facebook being the example, when you terminate a user from your network, it no longer asks whether or not you would like to delete the user from your network, it now refers to it as the option of removing your ‘connection’ with that user. To me this puts more emphasis on the networking element of the sight rather than it being a social tool.
“Social ties provide many benefits, including companionship, access to information, and emotional and material support” (Granovetter, 1983; Wellman, Garton, & Haythornthwaite, 1997; Wellman & Gulia, 1999). What I would like to look into further and question is the state of the relationship that each user has with their friends online. Are they close friends you would rely on for support and information, or are they merely just acquaintances that you normally wouldn’t communicate with in reality. And does this differ across your personal network depending on age, gender and location.
A light hearted example I thought of which could act as a test to gather this information would be to organise a Facebook ‘event’ for a party of some sort at your own home. When inviting people from your network, would you want to invite everyone that you are connected with? Or would there be a selection process where only those that are closest to you, and you could trust to be in your homes receive an invite? Personally there are people who are in my friend network who I have only really met once before and rarely even communicate with both online and off. I’m not sure how comfortable I would be with them in my house, depending on the type of party it was going to be. It is mainly those that I have stronger ties with that I would most likely invite, and also the one’s that would most likely attend. “Strong ties are close confidents, people relied upon in an emergency and with whom one is likely to share multiple interests… weak ties are more distant acquaintances, people known in a specific context and towards whom one feels less responsibility.” (Judith Donath, Signals in Social Supernets, page 237.)
So are the friends you have on Facebook or other social networks really your friends? “Current research suggests that both strong and weak ties are sustained on SNSs. (boyd, 2006; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Horrigan et al., 2006; Lenhart & Madden, 2007a) these sites definitely make communication easier, and do they make friendship easier also? It is worth thinking about.
What is interesting to note is that with Facebook being the example, when you terminate a user from your network, it no longer asks whether or not you would like to delete the user from your network, it now refers to it as the option of removing your ‘connection’ with that user. To me this puts more emphasis on the networking element of the sight rather than it being a social tool.
“Social ties provide many benefits, including companionship, access to information, and emotional and material support” (Granovetter, 1983; Wellman, Garton, & Haythornthwaite, 1997; Wellman & Gulia, 1999). What I would like to look into further and question is the state of the relationship that each user has with their friends online. Are they close friends you would rely on for support and information, or are they merely just acquaintances that you normally wouldn’t communicate with in reality. And does this differ across your personal network depending on age, gender and location.
A light hearted example I thought of which could act as a test to gather this information would be to organise a Facebook ‘event’ for a party of some sort at your own home. When inviting people from your network, would you want to invite everyone that you are connected with? Or would there be a selection process where only those that are closest to you, and you could trust to be in your homes receive an invite? Personally there are people who are in my friend network who I have only really met once before and rarely even communicate with both online and off. I’m not sure how comfortable I would be with them in my house, depending on the type of party it was going to be. It is mainly those that I have stronger ties with that I would most likely invite, and also the one’s that would most likely attend. “Strong ties are close confidents, people relied upon in an emergency and with whom one is likely to share multiple interests… weak ties are more distant acquaintances, people known in a specific context and towards whom one feels less responsibility.” (Judith Donath, Signals in Social Supernets, page 237.)
So are the friends you have on Facebook or other social networks really your friends? “Current research suggests that both strong and weak ties are sustained on SNSs. (boyd, 2006; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Horrigan et al., 2006; Lenhart & Madden, 2007a) these sites definitely make communication easier, and do they make friendship easier also? It is worth thinking about.