By definition the Social Networking Sites, though they have got to be the best way a person with an office job can burn a few hours of their horrible day, it seems as though they are becoming more and more a way for people to "hook-up" Legal E-stalk, and make people mad. I agree with Boyd and Ellison's definition of the social network. I also like the amendment that Beer (also cool) added to it. The definition for social network or "Networking" could be compared to that of the term "Damn" There are so many different ways to use it that there really can't be a single way to define what it is. It can be used to make people happy, sad, mad, cry, or as some of us have seen it can completly CRUSH your heart and soul. So To try to define it is just a waste of time. I do feel as though they have attempted and for the most part succeeded in giving a suitable definition to an otherwise impossible "thing" to define. The SNS sites are (in my opinion) 100% the same as an online community. The only factor is that you can add friends that aren't a part of your actual life or (community). This could be the only thing that I can see that could make the major SNS's not completly the same. The thing is that you don't have to freind those that are not part of your own personal life. You can choose only those that you interact with on a daily basis, I on the other hand choose to interact with 100s daily and yes, I do use facebook. So you sum it all up, Why try to define that, that cannot be defined? On top of that whats the point in attempting to define something that changes faster than the universe? What to create a book that you make students buy with their hard earned money so they can read pointless blabber about something like facebook when all it really boils down to is something meaningless life "Getting my nails done!! Yayyy!!" -Sheryl
Defining these things as a community or not a community doesn't matter, it's understanding of what the technology is capable of is whats more important and finding new ways to expand the "community" and bring more people together. Because knowledge is power and SNS's spread knowledge faster than any telephone or TV ever did.
I do agree on the technology perspective part of the set up for social networking. It allows us to be aware of what is needed to get connected.
ReplyDeleteOk, but here's the think about definitions--if as researchers and students we are going to study some phenomenon, don't we need to be able to *define* what that is in order to study it? Maybe definitions don't matter in everyday life, but how can you analyze something without knowing what the thing is that you're analyzing?
ReplyDelete(as an aside, my power went out in the middle of typing this comment. very odd!)
I agree that is has many definitions, and perhaps impossible in some way to ALWAYS define it. Though Kris has a point also, and perhaps anyone studying it might need to dissect SNS bit by bit and give every piece a definiton?
ReplyDelete