Business social network:
an “age levelling”
service ?
Media+Generations Ivana Pais
Conference pais@jus.unibs.it
Università Cattolica Chiara Carini
del Sacro Cuore chiaracarini@gmail.com
Saturday 12 September 2009

Business social
network
NETWORK
is something that is constituted of nodes (vertices) and ties (edges). Network
NOT networking.
SOCIAL network
is a network, where the actors represent nodes and the ties represent the
relations between them. They can be personal or professional.
BUSINESS social network
are services that focus on the building and maintenance of professional social
network. They can be online or in person.
Business social network SITES (BSNSs)
are web-based services that allow individuals to make visible their
professional social networks

(some) Theoretical
Assumption
Business social networks: (Business) SNSs:
• The strength of weak ties • Internet as a social space (Baym
(Granovetter 1973) 2006)
• Structural holes (Burt 1992) • SNSs are primarily organized
• Social resources (Lin 2001) around people, not interests
• Appropriable/intentional social egocentric network, not
organizations (Coleman 1990) communities (Wellman, 1988).
• SNSs are dynamic systems
(Haythornthwaite 2000)
• Public display of connection as
identity signal (Donath and Boyd
2004)

Our research
Approach
explorative analysis
Aim
to analyse how social capital is intentionally created/mobilised in business
social networks (on line and in person)
Method
participant observation + survey + semi-structured interviews
Business social networks
Milan IN/LinkedIn + BNI, Xing

The survey
Online
questionnaire
May 15th-22nd,
5387 1674
2009 interviews respondents
60 questions ( 31%)

Three
research
questions

Does age influence
the choice to join a
business social network?

Registration
Age
influence:
YES

Interviews
Participants here tend to be more With this tools age differences do not
experienced, which is not linked to age, exist. When you meet someone in
gender or ethnicity. person, age is something that affects the
(LinkedIn Q&A, man, consultant) relationship, with LinkedIn the first
impression is not based on age and
I can't say that I've even thought about it, even when you meet off line, age
so I'd say no. Social media is an equalizer continues to be irrelevant.
in that respect; what matters is what you (Milan IN, man, temporary manager, 71
know, how you share, and the time you years old)
put into it.
(LinkedIn Q&A, man, General Manager at I do it on purpose: I dress in a way that
Web Industries) makes me appear older, I have grown a
beard for that reason. Because
otherwise you don’t work. Via internet
you don’t need it.
(Milan IN, man, entrepreneur, 22 years
old)

Other features
Personal
79% men
80% graduated (39% of them have a post degree)
47% live and 58% work in Milan
Professional
65% employed, 18% entrepreneurs, 18% self-employed, only 0,5%
retired and 1% students
27% Ict, 19% consultancy
Only 5% are seeking a new job
82% exceed 40 working hours weekly
42% yearly gross income exceeds 60,000 €

Does age influence
the way
to partecipate?

Participation Age
influence:
LinkedIn
65% access the site at least once a week
They have on average 224 contacts
NO
77% have a “open strategy” (connect with
people unknown to them)
30% of connections are online only
Milan IN
15% access the site at least once a week
27% attend meetings and events
44% choose the event according to the topic being dealt with
36% participate every time they have the chance to do so

Does age influence
the results achieved?

Results Age
influence:
NO

Conclusions

Business social network as an
“age levelling” service
1. Business social networks are mainly used by
people born between 1966 and 1978.
2. The younger and older age groups use them to
avoid prejudices linked to age
3. Once they access, there are no generational
differences about the way they participate and the
results achieved

Next steps
Control group: to compare the members of
business social networks with their collegues
who are not connected
Social network analysis regarding
connections and recommendations: is there
any generational difference in their social
network structure?

References
Baym, N.K. 2006, “Interpersonal Life Online”, in Lievrouw, L.A. and S.
Livingstone (red.) 2006, The Handbook of New Media, p. 62-76, Sage
Publications Ltd, London, California and New Delhi.
Wellman, B. (1988). Structural analysis: From method and metaphor
to theory and substance. In B. Wellman & S. D. Berkowitz (Eds.), Social
Structures: A Network Approach (pp. 19–61). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Haythornthwaite, C. 2000, “Online personal networks”, New Media and
Society, Vol. 2, N. 2, p. 195-226.
Donath, J., & boyd, d. (2004). Public displays of connection. BT
Technology Journal, 22 (4), 71-82.
Granovetter, M. (1973). "The Strength of Weak Ties", American
Journal of Sociology, Vol. 78, Issue 6, May 1973, pp. 1360-1380.
Coleman J. (1990) Foundations of Social theory, Cambridge, Harvard
University Press.
Burt R. (1992) Structural Holes, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Lin, N. (2001), Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action
, New York, Cambridge University Press.

Thank you