In the article "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace,” Danah Boyd discusses some “sticky” issues concerning MySpace and Facebook.
Both of these virtual communities are relatively new. MySpace was launched in 2003 and Facebook in 2004. At this time, both communities serve large populations of young people.
Contrary to the superstitions of some, most members of MySpace and Facebook are not “networking.” In other words, they are not using their virtual communities as avenues to seek connections with absolute strangers.
In the article "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship," Boyd & Ellison distinguish between the terms “social network” and “networking” as follows: "Networking" emphasizes relationship initiation, often between strangers. While networking is possible on these sites [online social communities], it is not the primary practice on many of them. . . . What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather. . . these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share some offline connection."
As part of their community involvement, users are encouraged to create profiles that express their individual interests. Research indicates that in selecting the appearances of their profiles, users reflect even more about themselves. When visitors look at various profiles, they gravitate toward others who seem most like themselves. This discovering and connecting with the familiar becomes a cohesiveness—a glue that binds people within social groups. Thus, it is the “stickiness” that holds the networks together and brings users back again and again.
In the virtual world, it seems that it is also true that "birds of a feather flock together."
As researchers began to analyze which community various individuals tended to select, another type of stickiness began to surface--the kind of stickiness that seems to be pervasive, when attempting to say something that is awkward.
Although it seemed inappropriate--or perhaps tasteless--to mention it, Boyd began to note that people of the working class--the less educated--seemed more at home in MySpace and people of the more professional class seemed more at home at Facebook.
As she mentioned this trend, Boyd acknowledged that people don't generally like to openly admit issues having to do with social class. She acknowledged that the discussion was a "sticky" situation.
I don't know whether this suggests that virtual snobbery is alive and well; but it does seem to suggest that a virtual line has been drawn in the virtual sand of the virtual communities.
boyd, danah. 2007. "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace ." Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24 . http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.htm
Both of these virtual communities are relatively new. MySpace was launched in 2003 and Facebook in 2004. At this time, both communities serve large populations of young people.
Contrary to the superstitions of some, most members of MySpace and Facebook are not “networking.” In other words, they are not using their virtual communities as avenues to seek connections with absolute strangers.
In the article "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship," Boyd & Ellison distinguish between the terms “social network” and “networking” as follows: "Networking" emphasizes relationship initiation, often between strangers. While networking is possible on these sites [online social communities], it is not the primary practice on many of them. . . . What makes social network sites unique is not that they allow individuals to meet strangers, but rather. . . these meetings are frequently between "latent ties" (Haythornthwaite, 2005) who share some offline connection."
As part of their community involvement, users are encouraged to create profiles that express their individual interests. Research indicates that in selecting the appearances of their profiles, users reflect even more about themselves. When visitors look at various profiles, they gravitate toward others who seem most like themselves. This discovering and connecting with the familiar becomes a cohesiveness—a glue that binds people within social groups. Thus, it is the “stickiness” that holds the networks together and brings users back again and again.
In the virtual world, it seems that it is also true that "birds of a feather flock together."
As researchers began to analyze which community various individuals tended to select, another type of stickiness began to surface--the kind of stickiness that seems to be pervasive, when attempting to say something that is awkward.
Although it seemed inappropriate--or perhaps tasteless--to mention it, Boyd began to note that people of the working class--the less educated--seemed more at home in MySpace and people of the more professional class seemed more at home at Facebook.
As she mentioned this trend, Boyd acknowledged that people don't generally like to openly admit issues having to do with social class. She acknowledged that the discussion was a "sticky" situation.
I don't know whether this suggests that virtual snobbery is alive and well; but it does seem to suggest that a virtual line has been drawn in the virtual sand of the virtual communities.
boyd, danah. 2007. "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace ." Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24 . http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.htm
Library Patrons Are Like Ships That Pass in the Night -- Social Networks Could Bring Them Into the Same Harbor
For many years, people have considered America’s librarians to be physical places—what Chris Anderson (Long Tail 2006) would call bricks and mortar places—that serve flesh and blood people.Many of the people who share the same libraries don’t actually know each other. Occasionally, they pass each other—like ships in the night—as they come and go. Woven into a library’s common web, they have what Boyd & Eillson (2007) call “latent ties.” They exist in a mutual community; but they don’t really connect. [Incidentally, statistics seem to indicate that the members of the traditional library community don’t actually come to the library very often either; and for many reasons their absences are felt.]
Libraries could learn several things from social communities—like MySpace and Facebook.
In another post, I discussed the manner in which like-minded people find each other in social networks. I discussed the cohesiveness that results from their virtual connections, saying the following: “When visitors look at various profiles, they gravitate toward others who seem most like themselves. This discovering and connecting with the familiar becomes a cohesiveness—a glue that binds people within social groups. Thus, it is the “stickiness” that holds the networks together and brings users back again and again.”
If libraries learn nothing else from social networks, they need to take note of this last trend. This “stickiness” that occurs when people connect.
In their article "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship," Boyd & Ellison say that the people who ultimately connect in virtual communities actually had “latent ties” beforehand. Again, they were like ships in the night—merely passing. It was the connecting that mattered—that gave the relationship purpose—that brings the people back into the site again and again.
In her book Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online Meredith Farkas (2007) says that many libraries have become the “physical hubs” of their communities. (p. 73).
I certainly cannot speak for all of the nation’s libraries; but from what I have observed, I would amend Farkas and say that a few libraries have become their communities’ physical hubs. I would say that most libraries have the potential to be that physical hub; but that they fail to step up to the plate.
When I think of a wheel and a hub, I think of spokes that connect and circulate—that function as a unit. Ships that pass in the night are not wheels—they are not hubs. The library needs to find ways to pull its ships into the same harbor. Social networks—virtual communities could help.
Anderson, Chris. ( 2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.
boyd, danah. 2007. "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace ." Apophenia Blog Essay. June 24 . http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/ClassDivisions.html
boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.htm
Farkas, Meredith. (2007). Social Software in Libraries: Building Collaboration, Communication, and Community Online.
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