Officially uninformed and truly unbeknownst to me--whether I like it or not now--I became a social networking statistic in 2003. I had met a cute guy, Chris at a bar in the Hamptons during the summer of 2003 --- the summer after I had graduated from Boston College. Chris, a Notre Dame alumus whose alma mater like that of my own, Boston College, was a fellow member of the Jesuit order. Although I had only met Chris briefly that one summer night, I was not hesitate to accept his invitation to join Friendster.
In hindsight, I am aware that Chris had offered me some serious social capital pre-Friendster invitation. At the time of our introduction; however, I was oblivious. Given the amount of supposed weirdos whose days rise and set while logging on and off to their social networking sites, I did not have reservations about Chris' invitation because of his social capital. He was not only a college graduate, but he was a college graduate of a school just like my own alma mater.
If you're wondering...I no longer communicate with Chris, nor do I access my Friendster account; I have long since migrated to Facebook. Before pledging my allegiance to Facebook, I did required some coaxing from my fellow Boston College alumni. Again, my decision join Facebook was a resulting of an overwhelming amount of social capital. In addition, when I had initially joined Facebook, each member was required to have a school email address. I believe the fact that Facebook was targeting college students further touted the power of social capital amongst college students.
Today, I no longer communicate with Chris (nor do I check my Friendster account) and I have over 400 friends on my Facebook page --- many of which I infrequently---if at all---communicate with...which leads me to my final questions....how "social" are we really? Despite the fact that we have social networks, we have become increasingly less social. It is easier to "ping" someone on Facebook or IM than to call them or meet for coffee. The increasingly prominent profile of social networking capabilities have actually made us less social. In addition, this social capital which has been formed over centuries is becoming less of a social construct given the backdrop of these social networking sites. We base our "feel good" connections with people / groups of whom we barely know, let alone with people we actually communicate. Indeed, social networking continues to aid and abet the longstanding "social" aspect of society --- the one which had for centuries before instituted and built the concept of "social capital."
Hi Heather. I think you have a good point - that we're not that much more, or we're possibly less social than in times past. I have a core group of people with whom I do stuff on Facebook - and they're largely (though not exclusively) the same group of people I go out of my way to visit with when in their part of the world, send occasional email and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I still find Facebook and LinkedIn and the ilk to be useful: to help me keep track of those weak ties that were talked about in the Gladwell article. As long as we continue to agree that Facebook or whatever platform is under review is still of value, each of my contacts will update their contact details so that I can drop them a note when needed. I really value that.
Heather, I am with you on the point that just by having your "friends" list full doesn't necessarily mean you have friends :).
ReplyDeleteI guess it would largely have to depend on your personality in the real world, if you are capable of keeping contact with many people outside of the virtual environment than you could utilize all the tools social networks give you within virtual environment as well.
I just know I am not one of them at the moment :)
I remember when Facebook "appeared" at my university. I was a sophomore about to go to France for 5 months and Facebook seemed like the most amazing tool I had ever seen. I was able to keep track of all the people I "knew" all the way from France! My roommate and I spent an entire Saturday building our profiles, looking for people we knew online, and joining groups/networks. It was great.
ReplyDeleteFour years later, though, I can't say that I appreciate the value of Facebook as a way to be more social. It's a good way to keep contacts organized, however, I think it allows us to think "I'm too busy, I can't call friend X, so I'll post on his/her wall", but then again, how did busy people connect before Facebook? I don't feel connected or closer to people just because they're on my buddy list, instead, I would much rather go out for coffee and share non-edited ideas and thoughts.
Hi Heather, I definitely agree with you that people base their feel good connections with people that we don't have physical contact with on a regular basis. To me it seems awkward to just communicate solely or "meet" someone online, and then try having a real-time friendship with the person, if it started via online. Its hard to base what someone's true personality is through this social networking. I had facebook for a long time, but then decided to delete it last year. However, it did serve its purpose though by putting me back in touch with friends around the world that I lost touch with for years. That is good part of social networking. But the bad part, as I posted in my blog, are real-time communications amongst people have changed and as a result laziness has occured.
ReplyDelete