Friday 21 December 2007

Definition of social network sites

Danah Boyd is a PhD student at the School of Information (iSchool) at the University of California - Berkeley and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. Her research focuses on identity, context, social network sites, youth culture, social media, performance, Friendster, MySpace, Facebook.
She has a very interesting blog (i'm going to read it carefully as soon as i have time) and i chose this old post because she tried a definition of social network sites:

November 10, 2006

Social network sites: my definition

I would like to offer my working definition of "social network sites" per confusion over my request for a timeline.

A "social network site" is a category of websites with profiles, semi-persistent public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile.

To clarify:

  1. Profile. A profile includes an identifiable handle (either the person's name or nick), information about that person (e.g. age, sex, location, interests, etc.). Most profiles also include a photograph and information about last login. Profiles have unique URLs that can be visited directly.
  2. Traversable, publicly articulated social network. Participants have the ability to list other profiles as "friends" or "contacts" or some equivalent. This generates a social network graph which may be directed ("attention network" type of social network where friendship does not have to be confirmed) or undirected (where the other person must accept friendship). This articulated social network is displayed on an individual's profile for all other users to view. Each node contains a link to the profile of the other person so that individuals can traverse the network through friends of friends of friends....
  3. Semi-persistent public comments. Participants can leave comments (or testimonials, guestbook messages, etc.) on others' profiles for everyone to see. These comments are semi-persistent in that they are not ephemeral but they may disappear over some period of time or upon removal. These comments are typically reverse-chronological in display. Because of these comments, profiles are a combination of an individuals' self-expression and what others say about that individual.

This definition includes all of the obvious sites that i talk about as social network sites: MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Cyworld, Mixi, Orkut, etc. Some of the obvious players like LinkedIn are barely social network sites because of their efforts to privatize the articulated social network but, given that it's possible, I count them (just like i count MySpace even when the users turn their profiles private).

There are sites that primarily fit into other categories but contain all of the features of social network sites. This is particularly common with sites that were once a different type of community site but have added new features. BlackPlanet, AsianAvenue, MiGente, QQ, and Xanga all fit into this bucket. I typically include LiveJournal as a social network site but it is sorta an edge-cases because they do not allow you to comment on people's profiles. They do however allow you to publicly comment on the blog entries. For this reason, Dodgeball is also a problem - there are no comments whatsoever. In many ways, i do not consider Dodgeball a social network site, but i do consider it a mobile social network tool which is why i often lump it into this cluster of things.

Of course, things are getting trickier every day. I'm half-inclined to qualify the definition to say that the profile and articulated social network are the centralizing feature of these sites because there are tons of sites that have profiles and social network site features as a peripheral components of their service but where the primary focus is elsewhere. Examples of this include: YouTube, Flickr, Last.FM, 43Things, Meetup, Vox, Crushspot, etc. (Dating sites are probably the most tricky because they are very profile-centric but the social network is peripheral.) But, on the other hand, most of these sites grew out of this phenomenon. So, for the sake of argument, i leave room to include them but also consider them edge cases.

At the same time, it's critical to point out what social network sites are most definitely NOT. They are NOT the same as all sites that support social networks or all sites that allow people to engage in social networking. Your mobile phone, your email, your instant message client... these all support the articulation of social networks (addressbooks) but they do not let you publicly display them in relation to a profile for others to traverse. MUDs/MOOs, BBSes, chatrooms, bulletin boards, mailing lists, MMORPGS... these all allow you to meet new people and make friends but they are not social network sites.

This is part of why i get really antsy when people talk about this category as "social networks" or "social networking" or "social networking sites." I think that this is leading to all sorts of confusion about what is and what is not in the category. These alternative categories are far far far too broad and all too often i hear people talking about everything that allows you to talk to anyone in any way as one of these sites (this is the mistake that DOPA makes for example).

While it's great to talk about all of these things as part of a broader "social software" or "social media" phenomenon, there are also good reasons to have a label to address a subset of these sites that are permitting very particular practices. This allows academics, politicians, technologists, educators, and others discuss how structural shifts are prompting different kinds of behaviors. (What happens when people publicly articulate their relationships? How do these systems change the rules of virality because the network is visible? Etc.) Because of this, i don't want the slippage to be too great because people are using terrible terms or because people want their site to fit into the category of what's currently cool.

Of course, like most categories, there are huge issues around the edges and there's never a clean way to construct boundaries. (To understand the challenges, read Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things.) Just think of the category "game" and try to come up with a comfortable definition and boundary for that. Still, there are things that are most definitely not games. An apple is not a game. Sure, it can be used in a game but it is not inherently a game. Not all sites that allow people to engage in social activity are social network sites and it is ridiculous to try to shove them all there simply because there's a lot of marketing money to be made (yet i realize that this is often the reason why people do try). For this reason, i really want to stake out "social network sites" as a category that has meaningful properties even if the edges are a little fuzzy. There is still meaningful family resemblance and more central prototypes than others. I really want to focus on making sense of what's happening with this category by focusing primarily on the prototypes and less on the edge cases.

Anyhow, this is a work in progress but i wanted to write some of this down since i seem to be getting into lots of fights via email about this.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! I cοuld haνe sωorn I've been to your blog before but after browsing through many of the articles I realized it's new to me.
Anyways, I'm certainly happy I came across it and I'll be
bookmaгking it and сhеcking back regulаrly!
My page DiamondLinks.net

Anonymous said...

Stunning quest there. What happened аfter?
Good lucκ!
My page :: savings account payday loans

Anonymous said...

Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download
it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump out.
Please let me know where you got your design.

Appreciate it

My web blog :: koch dich schlank

Anonymous said...

Hi, I do think this is a great web site. I stumbledupon it ;) I'm going to revisit once again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide others.

My blog post :: englisch birkenbihl methode

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other websites?
I have a blog based upon on the same topics you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information.
I know my readers would value your work. If you're even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.

my web blog ... schnell viel abnehmen

Anonymous said...

Hi! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

Also visit my blog ... getreidefreie ernährung rezepte

Anonymous said...

What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable familiarity on the topic of unpredicted emotions.


Review my weblog: glutenfreie Ernährung

Anonymous said...

Pretty component to content. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and in
accession capital to say that I get in fact enjoyed account your
weblog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feeds or even I achievement you access consistently quickly.

my webpage: einführung wordpress deutsch

Anonymous said...

We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your web site provided us with valuable info
to work on. You have done a formidable job and our entire
community will be thankful to you.

Feel free to visit my web page - kapsel zum abnehmen

Anonymous said...

Today, I went to the beachfront with my kids. I found a
sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said
"You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear." She put the shell
to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to
tell someone!

Also visit my weblog; Original

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your next write ups thanks once
again.

my web blog; mivideocristiano.com
my page > http://www.amsafety.com/member/23508

Anonymous said...

I'm extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it's rare to see a great blog
like thiѕ οne noωadays.


Here iѕ my blog ... vida vacations

Anonymous said...

Gradually while gradually over time you can easily reconnect in conjunction with your man located in sensitive no aggro ways in which.
Your other most valuable provisions as a result of lbs
., truffle regarded as a excellent goody and also booked a Sovereign amongst Infection.
You are now you will need to throw away the best fine dining and
let your friends and family minimum for one delcious wine glass together with capuccino in
absolute residence. A coffee table have the option to lend a fashionable check out a
new family area. Tools is actually integrated into your place of work community
this promotes particular carrying out issues.

Also visit my homepage :: Coffee Maker Redflagdeals

Anonymous said...

Right, er or him most likely going to take a break in individual customari argument information on Web coupled with otherwise, take part in probably
several other hobbies... Zinc is treated by energy, and also the health.
You will produce the most reliable beverage feature scrupulously
intended for making juice citrus move. Would you want to have the
capacity to accomplished quite simply without having the majority of the
difficulties concerning cuisine cpus plus blenders in addition , hobby teeth?
The dimensions of an MCI-170 are often 16" c 18" x 22". A great supply of unrestricted sony psp field cd's without having to pay for brand activities, your favorite music and movies repeatedly.

Also visit my webpage - best buy juicer coupons

Anonymous said...

Such a masticating is a bit more radical in contrast to the very centrifugal juicers.

Bear in mind, processor chips are usually
great as opposed to, and a lot might devices do not require
positive razor blades whom while others donrrrt have.

Fine, discover that. Method . that Ninja Blender encourage and earn high
ocean in the world of cooking. Amazed at?

Also visit my weblog omega 9000 juicer instruction book

Anonymous said...

Ηmm it аpρеаrs lіκe your blog аte my firѕt comment (it was suρer long) so I
guess I'll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I'm thoroughly enϳoying yοur blog.

I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I'm still new to the whole thing. Do you have any helpful hints for novice blog writers? I'd really appreciate it.


Ѕtop by mу homepage reputation management

 
- -