Social networks: good or bad?
Image by Luc Legay. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Stephen J. Dubner writes a fascinating post on one of the New York Times blogs, in which he poses the question
Has social networking technology... made us better or worse off as a society, either from an economic, psychological, or sociological perspective?
The Times gathered some views from different scholars who have examined social networks as part of their research agenda. Their responses offer some valuable insights into the transformative effects -- both good and bad -- that social networks have on the lives of many people.
Danah Boyd at UC, Berkley notes that social networking services are themselves neutral. She writes that "These sites are tools. They can and have been used for both positive and negative purposes." Steve Chazin, marketing officer at a .com company, writes that he "believe[s] social networking technology has changed our lives for the better, but at a cost," and goes on to weigh the ability to easily connect to ones friends at any time against the desire to occasionally disconnect. Comparing connections that social networkers make to their close friends to connections they may make to others they don't know as well (or don't know at all), Judith Donath at the M.I.T. Media Lab writes that social networks can "devalue the meaning of 'friend.'" While acknowledging that this devaluation is possible, Nicole Ellison of Michigan State University argues here that social networkers are able to distinguish between the two types of friend. Based upon research she and her colleagues have conducted, she writes that
"We've asked users in surveys and interviews about how many Facebook "Friends" they have and how many of these are "actual" friends. Our respondents can articulate how many of their "Facebook Friends" are "actual friends" - about one-third, on average. This suggests to me that... Facebook users are able to distinguish between the term used by Facebook to indicate one's contacts and "friendship" as traditionally conceived.
The other question that neither the Times blogger nor the responders addressed is what exactly they mean by "society" when asking if social networks have made society better or worse off. I'm not going to begin an extensive discussion of the ideas that go into the concept of "society," but instead simply point it out as an issue to consider when thinking about the NYT's question. Beyond that, I think the question of positive and negative effects of social networks is a good one, and I look forward to further discussion of the topic.
Contributed by Aaron Bowen