FEATURESocial network sites and society

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

This chapter reports authoritative insights into one of the most significant developments related to social interaction – social network sites – and offers an analytic framework for exploring these new sites, while underscoring the centrality of social interaction since the Internet's earliest days, such as through email. Social network sites (SNSs) presented several characteristics that made it possible for individuals to easily update their profiles. The implicit role of communication and information sharing has become the driving motivator for participation. The concept of ‘Web 2.0’ was an industry-driven phenomenon, hyped by the news media and by business analysts alike. Social network sites emerged out of the Web 2.0 and social media phenomena, mixing new technologies and older computer-mediated communication practices infused by tech industry ideals. Server-level data offer a unique opportunity to access elaborated behavioural data about what people are doing on SNSs.

Advances in computers, 2009

2009

[5] Ellison, NB, C. Steinfield, and C. Lampe.“The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends': Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12, no. 4 (2007).< http://jcmc. indiana. edu/vol12/issue4/ellison. html> shared hobby—seem inconsequential compared to the costs of coordination, and thus the effort required to set up a future interaction seems unjustified. In other cases, the benefit of keeping in touch becomes apparent only later, after the opportunity has passed.

2000

2007

Social network sites (SNSs) have become some of the most popular online destinations in recent years (comScore, 2007a, 2007b). Not surprisingly, this level of user attraction has been accompanied by much coverage in the popular press, including speculations about the potential gains and harms stemming from the use of SNS services (Hempel, 2005; Magid, 2006; Stafford, 2006).

Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 2007

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2012