So how do social network sites and communities differ? Both often include synchronous chat features, profile pictures, and identities somewhat defined by not only your own content but also by your relationship to others within the site. Often communities are connecting strangers that share an interest other other common tie, whereas much of the scholarly research on social network sites shows that people predominately use the services to maintain larger networks of people they already know. Baym used the idea of space largely to define communities, whereas ties seem to be a key identifier in SNS.

Boyd & Ellison (2007) argue that we need to change our phrasing from “social networking sites” to “social network sites” as users are more often not networking at all. To network, you would need to be making new connections to people you do not already have an established relationship to, whereas most users are utilizing the sites to maintain their existing network. While that might sound as if is diminishing the role of SNS, its strength is its ability to lower the cost of maintenance on such a large network of relationships for each individual. Hargittai & Hsieh (2011) help to further define SNS by its types of users. They identify 4 types of users, Dabblers, Samplers, Devotees, and Omnivores, all separated by their usage and intensity habits. They also explore the differences in gender and demographic group usage.

Beer (2008) on the other hand, wants social network sites set apart from other types of user generated content sites such as YouTube or Wikipedia and suggests that we use Web 2.0 as a monkier to lump these types of sites together. Beer also wants us to considering the morphing nature of the term “friend” in light of the new dynamic that SNS presents. In SNS the term “friend” can be applied to a wide range of people from your mother to your boss to your actual “in real life” (to borrow a term from last week) friends. Finally, and perhaps most of all, Beer wants us to reconsider how we think of SNS. Many of us know that the sites are free for us to access, and take it at face value. We know there are ads in the sidebar that have been specially designed for us based on our demographic information and previous search history, but we all tend to blissfully ignore the ads in the sidebar and continue to scroll through our newsfeed. Beer argues that we should see SNS as commercial spaces designed in many ways to profit on us, the users. This brings up new concerns about privacy as we transition from users to customers.