Social network sites and society: current trends and future possibilities

Annotation

Nicole B. Ellison (co-author of “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”) along with Cliff Lampe and Charles Steinfield co-author this feature article from interactions on current trends and future possibilities of social networking sites.

By studying MSU Facebook users, this, generally very optimistic article lays out how SNSs support the management of numerous “weak ties,” which then facilitate the flow of “diverse perspectives and new information.” This flow reflects an increase in the social capital amongst the participants and is often initiated by the casual communication sparked through common affinities found on one anther’s profile page. These casual conversations can, and do, lead to more meaningful exchanges. These meaningful exchanges then can, and do, lead to larger social action so that not only do the participants benefit, but society does, as well.

This brief and well-written article is an excellent primer for getting one to think about the possible educational value in a large-scale SNS if one assumes that learners are pro-active information seekers. If SNS users communicate only with those whom they associate outside of the system, they are unlikely to acquire the diverse perspectives or new information that generally define learning.

By the article's logic, for one to say that SNSs are learning tools, one would have to confirm that users of those sites are cultivating “weak ties.”

boyd, D. M., & Nicole B. Ellison. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html.