Week 4: ‘MyFace’ or “Do you know what I did 5 seconds ago?”

'Social networking' refers to individual use of new media for socialising. Huberman, Thompson and Rosen all convey that social networking websites for example 'facebook' function like an online community of internet users. According to (Huberman et al. 2010) a standard definition of a social network represents the notion of all the people with whom one shares a social relationship. However, in reality those of you who own a Facebook or MySpace will know that not everyone will interact with every person ‘listed’ as part of their network. “One important reason behind this fact is that attention is the scarce resource in the age of the Web” (Huberman et al. 2010). Huberman defines a user who is engaged in their life, with many daily tasks and a large number of social links. The user is more inclined to interact with those few that matter in their network and will reciprocate for their attention.

In reference to Rosen, she points out “that Today’s online social networks are congeries of mostly weak ties – one who lists thousands of ‘friends’ on MySpace thinks of those people in the same way as he does in his flesh-and-blood acquaintances” (Rosen 2010, 19). Rosen reasons that perhaps we shouldn’t be asking how closely are we connected? Rather what kinds of communities and friendships are we creating? To answer that question, I would agree with Huberman in that the kinds of friendships and communities we are creating are the ones that we have previously formed. By using social networking sites we are maintaining and nourishing relationships by how much attention we will reciprocate with each ‘friend’ we have in our established network. With saying that, social networking does have room to build upon new ‘friends’ by accepting them into our networks. As Rosen draws to our attention “our need to believe in the possibility of a small world and in the power of connection is strong, as evidenced by the popularity and proliferation of contemporary online social networks” (Rosen 2010, 19).

In this week’s KCB201 tutorial the class created weak and strong networks. This activity was a hands-on workshop which opened a greater understanding of what Huberman intended; users who engage in their own life with a large number of social links are more inclined to focus interest on their ‘friends’ who matter most in their network.

Reference List

Huberman, B.A. Romero D.M. and Wu, F. (2009). Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope. First Monday, Volume 14, Number 1.(accessed March 19, 2010).

Thompson, J.B. 1995. The media and modernity: a social theory of the media. The Self as a Symbolic Project. Polity Press: Cambridge, 209-219. (accessed March 19, 2010).

Rosen, C. (2007). Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism. The New Atlantis, Number 17, Summer 2007: 15-31.(accessed March 19, 2010).