Have you ever thought about the progression of SNS over the past 15 years? In my opinion this is the breakdown between the transition of 4 different social networking sites. It started with Myspace. Really, truly a SNS that became the breakthrough of so many, many others. Next, we can thank Mark Zuckerberg for the creation of Facebook. This SNS succeeded greatly, and is probably one of the top SNS out there today. Next, Twitter came into our lives and new ways to express yourself were announced to the world. With so many others in between, I have found through kids that are in my everyday life, their SNS of choice is YouTube. Yes, it has been around for so long and we all use it a lot, but they use it to post videos in which they can share with their friends. They follow certain pages, but is this really considered a SNS? This is where Beer would say no. Beer feels like this lack of definition between these SNS is a problem especially because they are very different applications.
Boyd and Ellison define 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.” This is where Beer believes this is not defined enough, that it is too broad of a definition. I cannot help, but to agree. There seem to be no limitations to Boyd and Ellison’s definition. Could an anonymous bulletin board to discuss ideas be a SNS? Maybe according to Boyd and Ellison.
SNS are more individual based, whereas, online communities are more group based. When I think of a SNS (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) you should only be “friends” or “follow” people who you have a direct relationship with. Someone that you have met before in an offline community. Yes, some people “slip through the cracks” and many people realize this and try to fix the problem, which is why so many profiles on any SNS are set to private and do not allow these loopholes. An online community, people join to discuss common issues, or find a place with people that they do not know on a personal basis.
I agree that SNSs are focused more on the individual compared to online communities, which are group-based. Typically when you join an online community, you do so to discuss common interests with other people, not to connect with people you already know. However, in so doing, strong relationshisp can develop that lead to offline connections.
I also agree with you that SNS’s are focused on the individual compared to online communities. This confirms that the complexity and opinions will be greater in a community setting versus a person’s facebook where they have more control of the content, posts, and information shared. In a community setting a person may find more content from others to influence their views or opinions versus and SNS that they pick and choose what is posted or shared.
While I do only maintain relationships with people via Facebook that I’ve actually met, I use Twitter to follow and interact with many people that I don’t know face to face. Twitter’s hash tagging system allows me to connect with people without knowing them based on trending topics and mutual interests. Recently I was able to interact with others watching the same webinar because the presenter had us all live tweet using the same hash tag. This allowed us to follow and interact despite having no prior relationship. We could do this without “following” each other. As different SNS add functions like hashtagging, it may change the trends in usage patterns, so users are more likely to “network” and “networking” on the same sites.
Like you, I agree with what Boyd and Ellison used to describe network sites and the unlimited application of their definition. They seem to be much more focused on the main topic than online communities. People on these SNSes seem to be more secluded and self-preserved than members of online communities as well. Whether this is better or worse is mainly a matter of opinion. I personally think that online communities are better, but that’s just me.
I think Online communities are better as well because people are connected by a common interest which allows them to express themselves a little more.
I think Meagan makes a good point about Twitter. Ultimately, I think SNS platforms can easily function as multi-purpose tools. Some people use Facebook like LinkedIn, and keep their profiles very professional. Others use LinkedIn itself for the same purpose, and use Facebook as a more personal outlet. Whatever the case may be, I think it ultimately always comes down to organization. “How am I, as an individuals, going to organize my social media presence?” There are as many answers to that question as there are ways to use the tools.