Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Social networking, the buzz everywhere
You know that social networking becomes mainstream when PC Magazine starts writing a full length article about it. Social networking is where it's at, and we all can relate to that, because it's our human nature. Combining that with the web and mobile devices, and you have what I feel is truly ubiquitous or pervasive computing, what Adam Greenfield calls everyware, or what MIT Technology Review writer Wade Roush calls "continuous computing". The computer becomes a truly ubiquitous and immersive device in our lives, when it gets integrated with our social lives and helps facilitate our social mobility and how we do things. And social networking sites are one step in that direction (they haven't quite gotten us to truly ubiquitous computing yet), but I think that they are leading us towards there. We just need to have context awareness built into mobile devices that we have or sensors in the environment.
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Social networking sites enable a new way of connecting with people for potential online dating, in a casual fashion. It's ad-hoc, there's the potential, but you have to make the connection through shared interest. Online dating on the other hand are specifically geared towards being matchmakers. However, a lot of online dating sites form a business and therefore aren't free. So, I agree in your case that social networking sites can impact online dating sites.
It's difficult to make a definition of an online social network. But what I think are the components, are the contacts and the shared interest within those contacts. It's about the potential to make relationships which can become useful as a resource for whatever it is you need to do (like applying for a job, or getting some advice on something).
When relationships are made, then I think that's when we have the essence of a virtual community, which is the subject of my research.
Thanks for the comment.
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