The Many Faces of Social Networking Sites

When I heard the term "Social Network Site", I immediately thought of FaceBook as the beginning, middle and end of the discussion. Yet, as I have gotten a bit more background in SN Sites, I have noticed several different faces of them that can be explored.

Functional

The Knowledge Tree has a useful article that explains three core features of a Social Networking Site. They are:

• The ability to post a profile (text, images, video, audio, links) of yourself. This profile may have varying degrees of access, depending on your host site and your choices. FaceBook for example, restricts your full profile from being public


• Some mechanism to acquire friends. This may involve checking which of your email contacts are members of the site. It may involve searching for friends by name, school or job. Often, it is by trolling through lists of your friends friends. A desired friend may accept or ignore a request for friendship


• A way to post comments

The article goes on to discuss the social dynamics that play out through SN Sites. The concept of a "mediated public" is explained, an environment where people can express themselves, make sense of social norms and learn to express themselves. SN Sites have some interesting effects when used as a mediating technology.

Historical

Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship includes a look at SN Sites from a (recent) historical perspective. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several attempts were made to combine social networking with Web services. Sites like Six Degrees, CyWorld and Ryze ultimately sputtered out. Then Friendster came along in 2002 and gained enough of a user base to provide a compelling service. Ironically, Friendster was unable to cope with its own growth. The culture of site members was disturbed by an influx of new users, and the servers became unreliable under the heavy traffic. Friendster still exists, but member alienation and technical problems caused its importance to fade.
MySpace was launched in 2003. It was perceived as a site which listened to users, allowing customized html to personalize pages. Indie bands were actively invited to create profiles. The site allowed minors to join, although some concern arose over fears of sexual predators using the site.
FaceBook began as a Harvard only service in 2004. By 2005, FaceBook had become open to anyone in the general public. It has created a programming interface which allows applications to be run in conjunction with it. These applications give a user increased functionality, such as creating virtual cards or joining a fantasy football league.

Cultural

Examining SN sites from a cultural perspective can be enlightening. Wikipedia contains a list of social networking websites with some brief comments about each one. The list includes Cloob - popular in Iran with 1,000,000 members, Hyves - frequented by Dutch students, Cyworld - a favorite in Korea, Bebo - UK Based and Nettby - popular in Norway.

Future Trends

Fred Stutzman wrote an informative article which touches on five SN Sites that are having an impact. Stutzman sees trends such as more game-like features, the ability to micropay for virtual objects and the ability to purchase advanced features (such as site statistics) showing up more and more. He anticipates increasingly content driven SN sites (cars, music, etc.) and more social networking features creeping into other sites. As he closes the article, Stutzman states:

Social networking is absolutely here to stay - this is not simply a "phenomenon". The young users of these tools are situating their entire formative internet experience around them - and the affects of this social learning will inform use patterns throughout their life.

posted by John Lobe @ 10:00 PM