Social Networkign Weaver Morrison.(2008)

8/20/2019 Social Networkign Weaver Morrison.(2008)

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Social

NetworkingAlfred C. Weaver and Benjamin B. MorrisonUniversity of Virginia

Social networking is aconcept that has beenaround much longerthan the Internet or evenmass communication.

People have always been social crea-tures; our ability to work together in

groups, creating value that is greaterthan the sum of its parts, is one ofour greatest assets.

At its bare essentials, a socialnetwork consists of three or moreentities communicating and shar-ing information. This could take theform of a research coalition, a GirlScout troop, a church, a university,or any number of other socially con-structed relationships.

Since the explosion of the Internet

age, more than 1 billion people havebecome connected to the World WideWeb, creating seemingly limitlessopportunities for communicationand collaboration. In the context oftoday’s electronic media, social net-working has come to mean individu-als using the Internet and Web appli-cations to communicate in previouslyimpossible ways. This is largely theresult of a culture-wide paradigmshift in the uses and possibilities of

the Internet itself.The current Web is a much differ-

ent entity than the Web of a decade

ago. This new focus creates a riperbreeding ground for social network-ing and collaboration. In an abstractsense, social networking is abouteveryone.

The model has changed from top-down to bottom-up creation of infor-

mation and interaction, made pos-sible by new Web applications thatgive power to users. While in the pastthere was a top-down paradigm of afew large media corporations creatingcontent for the consumers to access,the production model has shifted sothat individual users now create con-tent that everyone can share.

The social-networking trend iscausing a major shift in the Inter-net’s function and design. While we

previously thought of the Internetas an information repository, theadvent of social networks is turningit into a tool for connecting people.The mass adoption of social-net-working websites of all shapes andsizes points to a larger movement,an evolution in human social inter-action.

AGE DISTINCTION AMONGSOCIAL NETWORKING USERS

A social-networking site typicallyallows users to post their profilesand create personal networks for

exchanging information with otherusers. According to a Pew Internetand American Life Project report(www.pewInternet.org/pdfs/PIP_SNS_Data_Memo_Jan_2007.pdf),

more than half of Americans aged12 to 17 use online social-network-ing sites, 55 percent of teens havecreated a personal profile online,and 55 percent have used social-networking sites such as Facebookor MySpace. Regardless of whetherthe information they exchange isserious or frivolous, the underlyingWeb technology is the same.

The mass murder at VirginiaTech on 16 April 2007 provides

a poignant lesson concerning thefunctions of social networking. Asthis tragic event unfolded duringthe early-morning hours, univer-sity officials communicated viaconventional police radios andtelephones. As the scope of thetragedy became apparent, studentsand peers notified each other viae-mail. But students at otherschools used Facebook to ascer-tain the status of their friends

attending Virginia Tech, aided byVT students annotating their per-sonal pages with comments suchas “I’m all right,” “I’m safe,” and“I’m coming home. See you soon.”This is a perfect example of usingthe Internet as a way of keepingupdated with a network of friends,a function that the younger genera-tion is readily adopting.

But will everyone adopt this con-ceptualization of the Internet as a

social platform? The ubiquity ofsocial networking among college-age individuals remains largelyunappreciated by their parents’demographic. This is a generationalissue that will in turn affect howwell the modern workplace acceptsand adopts social-networking con-cepts. Information sharing, collegi-ality, quick group formation, and asense of shared purpose and missioncharacterize the various Web-based

social-networking applications thattoday’s young professionals com-monly use.

The mass adoption of social-

networking websites points

to an evolution in human

social interaction.

February 2008 97

H O W T H I N G S W O R K



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SOCIAL-NETWORKINGSUCCESSES

A large or rapidly growing userpopulation characterizes a successfulsocial network. The most popularsocial networks grow their member-ship through viral marketing—thenatural human behavior that causespeople to tell others about productsor services that are particularly goodor bad. The value proposition is thatthe user must see enough returnon investment of some measure ofinvolvement—for example, time,

energy, or money—to continue usingthe service over a long time. Table 1lists some currently popular social-networking websites.

The service provider must see suf-ficient return on its investment—forexample, staff, equipment, advertis-ing, and website maintenance—tocontinue to provide a stable serviceto its users.

“Successful” is not necessarily syn-onymous with “profitable.” While

many social-network sites are (or atleast hope to be) profitable, others,such as Wikipedia, the free onlineencyclopedia, are socially motivated,not-for-profit ventures. Wikipedia,funded entirely by donations, seeksto serve society by making the vaststore of human knowledge availableto everyone, for free, in the world’smost common languages.

CASE STUDIES

Different social networks empha-size different aspects of humaninteraction.

Four case studies show the rangeof socialization that can occur

within social networks focusedaround the core purpose of connect-ing people online. All four of thesesites can be characterized as socialnetworks. They each give tools thatlet users express themselves andinteract with others in differentways, choosing to focus on differentareas of social interaction. Althougheach site expresses sociality in a dif-ferent way, they all are built aroundthe core idea of connecting people

and enabling them to interact.

MySpaceMySpace (www.myspace.com) is

a peer- and media-based social net-work in which members can createtheir own miniature websites con-taining pictures, profile informa-tion such as age and interests, andmedia. MySpace allows users toembed media snippets such as musicor video in their sites. They also can

customize the look and feel of theirMySpace websites by changing thewebpage files.

Initiated in 2003 in Los Angeles,MySpace was originally a music-oriented site designed to help inde-pendent musicians keep in touchwith their fans. Bands can createMySpace pages and post samples oftheir music as well as tour dates andshow locations. Thus, the conceptof sharing media is at the core of

MySpace, and the idea of sharingmusic naturally expanded to shar-ing video.

Now the largest online social net-work, MySpace claims more than 217

million registered users worldwide.It has expanded far beyond its initialfocus on music to saturate the finan-cially valuable 16-to-34 age group.The distribution of males and femalesis almost even (within 1 percent), andthe site is also incredibly popular withyounger teens and preteens.

MySpace differs from other social-networking sites (such as Facebook)mainly in its informal social-net-working contracts. To sign up,

MySpace requires little more than ane-mail address. A MySpace member’spage has its own URL, and anyonecan view the page. An Internet userdoesn’t even need to be a MySpacemember to browse the websites andview members’ pages. Few privacysettings are available to determinewho can or can’t see pages.

MySpace experienced explo-sive growth due to its viral designof inviting friends to join and also

because it encourages the practice of“friending” people the users don’tnecessarily know well in real life sothat they can share media.

MySpace also emphasizes that itsmembers retain proprietary owner-ship of the media they upload to thesite. This helped reassure indepen-dent bands and groups who wereconcerned that their material mightbe stolen, and instead lets membersfocus on connecting as many people

to their “spaces” as possible.While MySpace didn’t have first-

mover advantage—a similar site

Table 1. Social networking websites.

Website URL Focus Registered users*

Broadcaster broadcaster.com Video sharing and webcam chat 26,000,000

Classmates classmates.com School, college, work, and military groups 40,000,000Facebook facebook.com Upload photos, post videos, get news, tag friends 58,000,000

Flickr flickr.com Photo sharing 4,000,000

Fotolog fotolog.com 338 million photos from around the world 12,695,007

Friendster friendster.com Search for and connect with friends and classmates 50,000,000

MySpace myspace.com Videos, movies, IM, news, blogs, chat 217,000,000

Windows Live Spaces spaces.live.com Blogging 40,000,000

* The counts of registered users are taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites.



February 2008 99

called Friendster was launched yearsbefore MySpace, but focused mainlyon dating—it does allow users morecontrol over things they deem impor-tant, such as uploading their favorite

media and customizing their web-sites. Being flexible and responsiveto members’ demands and desireshas fueled the site’s growth.

FacebookLaunched by a Harvard sopho-

more in February 2004, Facebook(www.facebook.com) was initiallyrestricted to Harvard students. Overthe next two years, it was expandedto include all universities, then high

schools, and now to anyone age 13or older.Facebook is a peer-relationship-

based social network that allowsusers to create personal profilesdescribing their real-world selvesand then establish connections withother users. In addition to basicssuch as name, age, and school, pro-files also include information such asfavorite books, movies, quotes, andphotos. Users can further customize

their accounts by uploading othermedia such as images or movies, andinteract with other users by com-menting on their profiles or media.

Even though social networkingis no longer a new phenomenon,Facebook has created innovationsthat have allowed it to keep its usersinterested. Facebook is a uniquesocial network that views itself asa platform. This means that it hasmade extensive tools, documenta-

tion, and an application program-ming interface available for third-party developers to use in creating“applications” they can seamlesslyembed into Facebook. Using server-side software from other companiesand partners, as well as from loneprogrammers sitting in their bed-rooms, users can fill the profiles andpages they habitually use. Openingup both the front and back end ofFacebook to others lets third-party

developers create their own Webapplications that utilize the Face-book network.

As with any online business,Facebook experienced many grow-ing pains, particularly with regardto privacy. Cases of school admin-istrators and legal authorities usingFacebook’s user-uploaded images asevidence of illegal behavior such asunderage drinking have engenderedcontroversy and have made users

more aware of their responsibilitywith regard to their online presence.Facebook also has followed userfeedback by implementing privacysettings that let users select whatinformation will be available to cer-tain parties online.

As Facebook has learned, it’simportant to recognize that whilesocial networks are focused on con-necting others, users must followcertain rules and etiquette for the

interactions to be viewed as legiti-mate. Otherwise, privacy is violated,making users feel uncomfortable andprompting them to leave the site.

WikipediaWikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)

is a collaborative online encyclope-dia project in which anyone can cre-ate and edit the content displayed onthe site. As Figure 1 shows, to date,Wikipedia hosts 9.25 million articles

in 253 languages (2 million articlesin English), edited by tens of thou-sands of users every day. The ency-

clopedia is organized as a system ofarticles that are interconnected usinghyperlinks, allowing readers to lookup subject areas and then click linksto explore related areas. The thou-sands of volunteer users and editorscreate new topics and pages.

Owned by the Wikimedia Foun-dation, a nonprofit organization

seeking to develop and maintainopen content that allows anyone tocontribute, Wikipedia does not dis-play advertisements on its pages andgenerates no revenue. It is supportedthrough donations from both indi-viduals and corporate sponsors (suchas Yahoo!). Wikipedia’s foundersview the site as a public service andhave no interest in making a profitfrom it.

Wikipedia’s users organize the

editing of the site behind the scenes.“Discussion” and “history” tabsallow users to look “under thehood” and see the work that goesinto each article. Contributors dis-cuss topics such as an article’s scopeand the information’s reliability andbias. The editors discuss the bestways to adhere to Wikipedia’s poli-cies of fairness and quality. Editorscan view changes made to the articleand revert to an earlier version if they

detect tampering or invalid editing.Since users can change the site with-

out having an account, Wikipedia

Figure 1. Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project,

written collaboratively by authors around the world. Wikipedia has more than 75,000

active contributors working on more than 9 million articles in more than 250 languages.Source: www.wikipedia.org.



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has been criticized for its susceptibil-ity to vandalism. Whether Wikipediais a reliable resource is still open todebate. Encyclopedia Britannica hasreleased reports claiming that Wiki-

pedia contains more errors than atraditional encyclopedia that expertscompile (www.post-gazette.com/ pg/06083/676130.stm). However,other reports have claimed that Wiki-pedia is just as reliable as a conven-tional encyclopedia (http://news.com.com/2100-1038-5997332.html).

YouTubeAn online video-sharing network,

YouTube (www.youtube.com)

allows users to upload videos andshare movie clips. Users can browseother users’ videos as well as storetheir own videos on the site for free.They also can recommend popularvideos to their friends via e-mail, orembed simple code that lets themdisplay YouTube videos on their ownwebsites or blogs.

Users mainly govern the You-Tube community, and there areseveral ways that viewers can inter-

act with the videos. Users can leavecomments or recommendations ofother videos or they can “flag”or report videos that violate You-Tube’s usage agreements (such aspornography or offensive content).

YouTube’s staff then investigatesthese flagged videos.

CREATING A STANDARDIn March 2007, Google unveiled

an ambitious plan to standardize themovement to convert the Internetinto a social platform. Google’s opensource framework, OpenSocial, isintended for use by the dozens ofalready popular social-networkingwebsites such as MySpace, LinkedIn,Beebo, and others.

With OpenSocial, developers willbe able to use a common HTML lan-guage and JavaScript to take advan-tage of the user connections within

all social networks, not just a singlesite. Instead of writing one applica-tion for MySpace and another forFacebook, OpenSocial hopes to letdevelopers create a single applicationthat can spread across all platformsseamlessly.

In essence, Google is attemptingto standardize the code base for thenew social Internet. If most social-network sites adopt the OpenSocialstandard, new ways of human inter-

action will proliferate, just as newsources of information and webpagesdid in the early days of the Web.With all social networks connected,the Internet will truly mature in itstransformation to a social platform.

Only time will tell if others will fol-low Google’s lead.

S

o what is the future of the

Internet? Before the adventof the Web, the Internet wasprimarily a repository of informa-tion and data—a giant encyclopedia.It was the place where users went tofind what they needed to know.

In this decade, with the growth ofsocial networks and user-generatedcontent, the Internet is becoming ahub of socialization, a social utility.The Internet is now where users goto interact and connect with oth-

ers. Far beyond e-mail, the Internetis becoming a means of connectingpeople to one another, across dis-tances and time, allowing an orderof socialization and culture neverbefore seen. Social networking isthe logical extension of our humantendencies toward togetherness,whether that socialization is downthe hall or across the world.■

Alfred C. Weaver is a professor of

computer science at the University ofVirginia. One of his research projects

studies social networking to learn

how to build better Web-based col-

laboration environments. Contact

him at [email protected].

Benjamin B. Morrison is a senior

computer science major and a mediastudies minor at the University of Vir-

ginia. In addition to researching the

social implications of emerging tech-

nology, Morrison is the founder ofUVa’s Student Game Developers, an

organization that enables students to

create entertainment software. Con-

tact him at [email protected].

Computer welcomes your submis-

sions to this bimonthly column.

For additional information, or to

suggest topics that you would

like to see explained, contact

column editor Alf Weaver [email protected] Computer Society

Submit your

manuscript onl ine!Vis it http://computer.org/computer

and cl ick on “Write for Computer”.

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Social Networkign Weaver Morrison.(2008)