A look into the world of social media within digital culture. Production Project for CULT3020

1. The Social
Network
A look into the world of social networking
within digital culture
By Nicole Wilson
CULT3020 - Digital Culture

2. Things have changed in the digital world that
has made people accustomed to thinking of
the online world as a social space.
(Donath & Boyd 2004, p. 71)

3. What is Social Networking?
“We define social network sites as web-
based services that allow individuals to
construct a public or semi-public profile
within a bounded system, articulate a list of
other users with whom they share a
connection, and view and traverse their list
of connections and those made by others
within the system”
(Boyd & Ellison 2007, p. 211).

4. These sites allow
people to
construct a
public profile &
connect with
other users.

5. But is it really
social?

6. What do the users of these sites
get out of it?

7. Do these public profiles
give an accurate
impression of the user?

8. But also, have these
social networks
changed
our culture and our society?

9. To properly answer these
questions we need to
learn how social networks
fit into society and how
they came about.

10. History
The first social networking site called SixDegrees.com
launched in 1997, which allowed users to create their
own profiles with a list of friends. However, it was
closed in 2000 because it was not sustainable. There
were many other websites that came about in this
time, some were successful, but others, like
SixDegrees.com could not sustain the websites. For
example, Friendster was launched in 2002 but was not
able to handle the fast popularity of the site.
(Boyd & Ellison 2007).

11. After 2003 there were
many other social
networking sites that were
launched like
Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn
as well as Myspace.
Myspace quickly grew in popularity because
people were able to connect with bands and
artists, it allowed users to personalise their profile
page as well as accepting minors to join the
site.

12. Then along came Facebook in 2004, which was
originally designed as a network system for
colleges, but they began expanding their network to
include high school students, other professionals and
then eventually everyone.
(Boyd & Ellison 2007)

13. Facebook now has one billion active users with
approximately 81% of these users outside of the
U.S. and Canada.
(Facebook 2012)

14. These social networks are keeping
everyone connected in the world
of digital culture.
However, does this mean that by
being connected in a digital
environment people are less
involved in the real world?

15. In some ways, people are less involved in
the real world because they are constantly
involving themselves in the digital
environment on computers or phones. But
they are also more connected in many
other ways. People are able to interact
directly with particular users or companies
that would otherwise be out of their reach.
“If you’re not on Myspace, you don’t exist”
Skyler, 18, to her mom (Boyd 2007, p. 1).

16. Most people use social networks as a means of
entertainment because it provides insight into
society as well as passing the time (Boyd 2007).
Others use social networks “to explore
themselves through feedback from others, to
compensate for social limitations of
shyness, and to facilitate social relationships”.
(Valkenburg, Schouten & Peter
2005 in Pempek et al 2009, p. 228)

17. But what do the users get
from their participation in the
social networks? Boyd
discusses how these “social
network sites are providing
teens with a space to work
out identity and status, make
sense of cultural cues, and
negotiate public life”
(Boyd 2007, p. 2)

18. Not only can social networks entertain people and
help them learn things about themselves, but also it
seems that most people who use social networks are
not using them to meet new people but rather
“communicating with people who are already a part
of their extended social network”.
(Boyd & Ellison 2008, p. 211)
This is because social networks “provide an easy,
accessible way to interact with peers and gather
feedback”.
(Pempek et al 2009, p. 228)

19. Donath & Boyd believe that social networks are
“sources of emotional and financial support, and of
information about jobs, other people, and the world
at large“ (2004, p. 71).
As they suggest these social networks can be used to
meet new people, or to contact a person from the
past like an old school friend. As well as finding out
information about events happening in the world or
even to find a job or information about a possible
career.

20. It is also interesting to see how people use social
networking sites to express themselves to other users.
Each user will do some sort of impression
management to construct an online representation of
themselves.

21. Erving Goffman discuses about how people use impression
management when expressing themselves to others:
Sometimes a person will intentionally and consciously
express themselves in a particular way, but chiefly because
the tradition of his or her group or social status require this
kind of expression and not because of any particular
response that is likely to be evoked by those impressed by
the expression…The others, may be suitably impressed by
the individuals efforts to convey something, or may
misunderstand the situation and come to conclusions that
are warranted neither by the individuals intent not by the
fact. (Goffman 1959, p. 4)

22. But don‟t be fooled as any representation or
expressions online can be misinterpreted if taken out
of context or taken the wrong way. As Boyd discusses
users are “able to carefully choose what information
to put forward, thereby eliminating visceral reactions
that might have seeped out in everyday
communication. At the same time, these digital
bodies are fundamentally coarser, making it far easier
to misinterpret what someone is expressing”.
(Boyd 2007, p. 12)

23. Facebook is one
example of how
people use impression
management on their
personal profiles. The
photos that a person
shows on their profile
can certainly express
many things about a
person as well as the
information that is
shown.

24. But the information that is shown can also say a lot
about a person. For example, users are able to
choose whether they express their relationship status
to other users or not.

25. And even have the
option to let other people
see how old they
are, where they
live, places they have
visited or how educated
they are.

26. Zizi Papacharissi gives a great example of Facebook
and how some “profiles may consist of a
lengthy, cluttered, and disorganized page, containing
endless lists of applications and postings which
potentially communicate a careless or unkempt taste
performance” (2009, p. 213).
But this does not mean that this person is unorganised
or messy, it just communicates this to other users
because of the content on their profile.

27. It appears that the
impression management
of profiles can have an
effect on offline social
interaction as well as
online interaction, with
,
people being aware of
how they are being
perceived and trying to
change it.

28. “This customization makes daily life and network
management more convenient. However, as taste
cultures carry a distinct socio-economic
component, or at least aesthetic commonality which
may be connected to class somewhat, one cannot
help but notice that a medium heralded as the great
social equalizer gains meaning and relevance as it
enables its users to construct not just mere self-
performances, but performances structured around
offline spheres of taste and culture”.
(Papacharissi 2009, p. 213)

29. Therefore these social networking sites can only give
an accurate impression of a user to a certain extent;
it all depends on the information that the user
decides to make public on their profile. But for some
reason people are quick to judge others on
information from a social media website and this is
why there are so many people who are aware of
how they are being perceived and managing the
impression they give off.

30. Of course there are advantages and
disadvantages of having these social
networking sites a part of our lives.

31. Many companies are using social networking
sites to support the creation of brand
communities, for marketing research and to
promote (Kaplan & Haenlein 2010 p. 64).
This is because it allows
companies to engage with
their audience at a low cost
and at the same time
promoting their company.

32. But in todays digital culture social media is not just
available on computers, it is now on mobile phones.
Meaning the social network you are a part of basically
goes everywhere with you. “Some would argue that
while it enables the detailed following of friends
halfway across the world, it can foster a society where
we don‟t know the names of our own next-door
neighbors”.
(Kaplan & Haenlein 2010, p. 67)

33. Having these social networks in our lives has also opened
up questions of privacy. With all this information available
on the Internet for people to view users are able to track
other people in their extended network. With many mobiles
now containing location detection features that are based
on your position and tower location services
(Hansen, Scheiderman & Smith 2010, p. 27), people are
able to track your location.
Although, while people‟s privacy may be at risk on these
social networking sites, the information is willingly provided
by the users (Gross & Acquisti 2005, p. 3), as there are
settings that can be modified to protect privacy for each
users need.

34. So the ultimate question now is have social networks
changed our culture and society?

35. Donath and Boyd believe
“the types of social networks
that develop in different
communities have a
profound effect on the way
people work, the
opportunities they
have, and the structure of
their daily life” (2004, p. 71).

36. And things certainly have changed in the way society
functions from day to day. These days, nearly every
child has a mobile phone, people organise major
events using Facebook, they locate jobs online using
different social networking sites, even major
companies are creating public profiles on social
networking sites to promote their company. The only
way for society to keep functioning is by keeping up
with the social networking sites. Although, they may
be confusing at times with so much going on, they
aren‟t going anywhere.

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