WHAT IS AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK?
So exactly how do we define an online social network, and how is it any different from,
say, an offline social network? Sociologists, who frequently criticize modern society
for having destroyed traditional communities, unfortunately have not given us very
good definitions of social networks and community. One study examined 94 different
sociological definitions of community and found four areas of agreement. Social networks involve (a) a group of people, (b) shared social interaction, (c) common ties
among members, and (d) people who share an area for some period of time (Hillery,
1955). This will be our working definition of a social network. Social networks do not
necessarily have shared goals, purposes, or intentions. Indeed, social networks can
be places where people just “hang out,” share space, and communicate.
It’s a short step to defining an online social network as an area online where
people who share common ties can interact with one another. This definition is very
close to that of Howard Rheingold’s—one of The Well’s early participants—who coined
the term virtual communities as “cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people
bump into each other often enough in cyberspace.” It is a group of people who may
or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through
the mediation of an online social meeting space. The Internet removes the geographic
and time limitations of offline social networks. To be in an online network, you don’t
need to meet face to face, in a common room, at a common time.