Social Networking

Introduction

A social network is a style of organization of social relationships characterized by highly mobile, interconnected links between individuals or groups (Whittaker and Wagner, 2009). Such connections may take many forms, from business relationships based on status to relationships between friends. Social networks exist in flux as new nodal connections are formed and those rarely used become weaker. No formal division exists between one network and another, nor does a network possess a center. IMP Group (pp. 45-57) mentions networks provide resources that may be emotional, material, informational, or financial in nature. A network can be utilized to obtain a job, get information, spread news, organize protest movements (IMP Group, pp. 45-57), or make romantic connections. One's positioning in the system of social networks, therefore, has a large effect on the span of an individual's power in a contemporary informational society.

Social Networking: A Discussion

In words of Watts (pp. 89-99) initial conceptions of social networks appear in the works of such early theorists of modernity as Emile Durkheim and Georg Simmel, who noticed increased instrumental interpersonal encounters at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1930s, social network analysis evolved as a means of quantifying and mapping emerging social networks, becoming a subfield of work on social ties in the social sciences. Decades later, the meaning and importance of the social network grew and changed dramatically when social scientists identified a qualitative and significant difference in the ordering of social connections in the postmodern era (Watts, pp. 89-99). This change occurred with the revolution in information technology, including the widespread use of the Internet, cell phone communications, and the “time-space compression” of the new global economy. As the speed and connection of social interactions increased worldwide, social relations increasingly took the form of the network (Whittaker and Wagner, 2009).

Unlike traditional ties to local communities, networks exist not in terms of physical space alone, but they can continue uninterrupted between cyberspace and actual space. Because of the increased speed, mobility, and anonymity such a system provides, networked groups have an advantage in collective political activity (Whittaker and Wagner, 2009). In the era of globalization, social networks are important in shaping the actions of transnational activists, who use this technology for communication and organizing across national boundaries. Networked telecommunications via cell phone and text message (Watts, pp. 89-99), for example, help protesters communicate information during political demonstrations, such as warning each other ...