Internet Ties

I have a strong personal and professional interest in social networking applications and social software. Social software "enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities." Examples include email, instant messaging clients, weblogs, wikis, and social/professional networking sites such as Friendster and LinkedIn. **

Common to most definitions is the observation that some types of software seem to facilitate "bottom-up" community development, in which membership is voluntary, reputations are earned by winning the trust of other members, and the community's mission and governance are defined by the communitys' members themselves. Communities formed by "bottom-up" processes are contrasted to the less vibrant collectivities formed by "top-down" software, in which users' roles are determined by an external authority and circumscribed by rigidly conceived software mechanisms (such as access rights).

[ From the Wikipedia entry on Social Software]

Despite fears that were expressed two decades ago that the rise of the Internet would isolate people, keeping them at home in front of their computers and reducing interaction with friends and family, the opposite seems to be the case. Instead, people are using the Internet to expand and strengthen their social ties.

I know this is the case with me. I have made many new "netfriends" through weblogs, online groups, and mailing lists — people I would never have "met" without the Internet. I consider these people to be the modern equivalent of the penpal, but we write to each other much more often!

I have reconnected with "lost" friends and former co-workers with the aid of Google searches and services such as LinkedIn. I am in frequent email contact with my parents, sister, and college friends — much more frequent than our interaction would be through paper mail, even though thousands of miles separate us physically. I have instant messaging "chats" with my father several times a week.

Through the magic of the Internet, I can share an idea, a joke, a story, or a description of my day at the touch of a few keys. I can ask a question and get an answer within minutes. I can bring more people into the discussion with ease. I can introduce my friends to my friends. I can keep in touch.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently issued a report describing how the Internet

... improves Americans’ capacity to maintain their social networks and how they gain a big payoff when they use the internet to activate those networks to solicit help. The report is based on two surveys and finds that the internet and email expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the offline world. The surveys show that people not only socialize online, but they also incorporate the internet into their quest for information and advice as they seek help and make decisions.

Disputing concerns that heavy use of the internet might diminish people's social relations, the report finds that the internet fits seamlessly with Americans' in-person and phone encounters. With the help of the internet, people are able to maintain active contact with sizable social networks, even though many of the people in those networks do not live close to them.

[ ref. Social Networking Going Strong, by Georganna Hancock, in Lockergnome's Political Geeks channel, January 25, 2006.

* Get the report, The Strength of Internet Ties, in PDF format. ]

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** There are 4 subcategories and 105 articles in the Social Networking category at Wikipedia.