Rula’s Blog # 10 : Social Networking Sites Vs. Online Communities

Boyd and Ellison ( 2007) defined social network sites as “  web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,(2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”(2). Where as, Beer (2008) article was a response to Boyd and Ellison’s essay. Beer argued that to Boyd and Ellison definition of social network is too broad and it be more classified. Additionally, Beer suggested that Boyd and Ellison’s definition should be used as a base for categorizing different types of websites. Therefore, Beer suggested that “ in place of a very general vision of these sites as social network sites, why not use a term like Web 2.0 to describe the general shift and then fit categories, such as wiki’s , folksonomies, mashups and social networking sites within it”(5)

I strongly agree with Boyd and Ellison’s definition of the networking sites, and think that it is clear and valuable. However, unlike what Beer thinks of the networking definition, I do not think that Boyd and Ellison’s definition may cause misleading. Thu, I think that Beer’s suggestion of categorizing the networking definition to make it clearer and more precise is a valuable suggestion as well.

People may use social network to maintain old relationships (classmates, coworkers, friends, family members…so on), or look for new relationships within the social network system such as Facbook and Myspace. Therefore, in social network you would have unique connections with others and can not fake your identity because everyone knows you. However, people use online communities because they have a common interest that held them together such as a hobby, profession, national origin, religion, or similar lifestyle and so on. Online communities’ users may have pre-established interrelationships, but not necessarily, so they are mostly do not know anything about each others at all in which would make it easier for users to use a fake identity and not have a unique relationships because the connections within this system will overlaps. Also when conflict arises it would be harder to solve the problem within the system in online communities than the social network sites.

10 thoughts on “Rula’s Blog # 10 : Social Networking Sites Vs. Online Communities

  1. Interesting comment that conflict is easier to resolve via social network sites than online communities. I’m not sure if there is research that explores this issue but, based on my experiences, I don’t think I could predict the outcome one way or another. One could hypothesize that online communities have their own set of rules and code of conduct, thus reducing the amount of conflict. Social network users do not agree to any such rules and thus seem more willingly to engage in diatribe with one another, particularly in extended networks, regarding politics and other controversial topics.

  2. I I agree with you,Tim, but I think because the social net work sites connect you with your friends and family members, you will be more careful in all your posts and comments because everybody know who you are. In this case, if you did something against the rules you will be in a big trouble any may loose your beloved and that’s going to be a big loss for you. On the other hand, it is true that online communities have its rules but because people mostly don’t know each others the conflicts would be more complicated and harder to solve.

  3. I think that you point out a good point, rsasali. People might be more careful with their posts since they would not be anonymous. I think, for those that like to become other people online, live different lives, or have a different cyber personality that they like to live out, this might be a little difficult. The person might try to hide those things from their friends and family.

    • Your point about anonymity goes back to the discussion on impression management. Because my information is connected to my profile, I feel responsible for my posts. I know I am more conscious of the content I post because I am connected to family and I don’t want them to see me negatively. You have to take into account what is visible and who you share that information with. The broader your network, the more careful you have to be. Alternatively, you might reach a point where you trade in privacy and control for the sake of connections.

  4. I haven’t thought about it much before, but Boyd and Ellison are correct that I did check the connections of my friends within SNS. I used this feature a lot when I first joined Facebook in the .edu era when connections where only made among college students. Most of the time now I only notice it now when I go to a friend’s profile and Facebook has the box of mutual friends we share. I don’t often pay attention to our non-mutual connections, which is one reasons the news feed is irritating to me. It shows material in my feed of interactions between”friends” and non-friends, and I don’t care about that content.
    Maybe I’m atypical, but bonds of non-mutual connections don’t interest me much now that I have an established network. Maybe the helpfullness of that feature runs its course once you transition from building a network online to maintaining it? I do check connections of my Twitter friends because I’m still in the building a network process on that platform, whereas I’m passed that on my Facebook account.

  5. You states ” in social network you would have unique connections with others and can not fake your identity.” However, I feel that is the perfect place to develop a fake identity. Yes the people do know you however, with pictures and different comments you can conform to an identity that make your life look much better than it actually is. I actually know people who use facebook and twitter to present themselves as a totally different person. I’m not sure why people do not call them out on it but they allow them to take on the identity of their choice.

  6. “Also when conflict arises it would be harder to solve the problem within the system in online communities than the social network sites.”I disagree, I think it is equally difficult solve conflicts via online communites and social network sites. Mainly because with online communities the users may feel that everyone has the same view and may not open to different views. With social network sites if everyone does not fully know each other the way your message is stated can easily be misperceived.

  7. I totally agree with you, scoe, because me,myself, use the social network to look better and fake things…Who doesn’t like to look better, let’s be realistics. We can’t be perfect and say the truth only online. We all like to look perfect, however, this wasn’t my point in my blog. My point was that in social net work, for example, when I use my Facebook I use it to maintain an old relationships with my old freinds and all my family members. Those people, they all know who I am and can read between my lines because they know me very well. Therefore, I can’t fake my identity but I still can fake being happy in a bad day since anyway no one can see me. On the other hand, online community they mostly strangers that I never met and I only share common interest with them, so I have here more space to fake my identity because no body really know me very well and I wouldn’t care about my relationships on online community as I care to continue having a good relatioships with my best friends and family members.

  8. I do respect your disagreement and I think that you might be right that both social nework sites and online communities are equal in solving conflicts but I thought maybe in social networking you can solve the problem easier and faster because everybody know each other so we won’t have that big problems in the first place. In the online community it can be more formal and harder to solve the problems.

  9. I think that your explanation of the differences between SNSes and online communities was very smart. You make some excellent points, such as pointing out that it is harder to fake or make up an identity on a social network site, such as Facebook, because the majority of your “friends” on the site are actually your friends in real life. Obviously, there will be exceptions to that rule (there always are) but I think overall its a very accurate statement. If you are in an online community that does not require a profile picture or anything like what an SNS requires, its easier to hide yourself or your identity. Plus, you point out that online communities generally bring together people who didn’t know one another previously, which is also very true. Great job!

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