Friendships, Facebook Edition.
Networks are intricate structures that bridge local and global worlds and contain distinct properties. Elizabeth Bernstein explores how facebook’s platform has transformed the meaning of friendships and information sharing. She acknowledges how social networking has made us closer, allowing old friends to reconnect and get better acquainted to people we likely wouldn’t have grown close to offline. This information-sharing platform has also benefitted those looking for support, particularly in times in need, from a larger network. However, she raises several concerns with online networking that has changed our definition of weak and strong ties.
Firstly, facebook’s platform encourages people to constantly post pictures or a status in an effort to keep profiles interesting. This information sharing can be beneficial for connections, when said information is meaningful. Unfortunately, too many people have begun to clutter our feeds, sharing insignificant details about their daily lives and activities. This gives weak ties, or acquaintances, access to information that would’ve been shared among only strong ties. As a result, online networking has changed the type of information and the amount of information we know about others. It is important to consider this alteration in our online definition of strong and weak ties and networks.
The platform also masks consequences of disclosing personal information and opinions that we normally wouldn’t share to our social network. Being behind a screen changes our interactions by diluting our perception of consequences and immediate reactions. This comes from a lack of body language, voice tone, and other non-verbal cues, which are no longer available to interpret.
Facebook contains several solutions for filtering out all of the nonsense information. Users can hide posts, un-friend, or even block other users. Unfortunately, there is no solution for preventing individuals from cluttering our feeds. Elizabeth concludes that in order to improve our interactions online, we must change our actions, rather than covering it up.
Even though we recognize the ways in which we maintain and access our social networks changes online, it is important that this transformation doesn’t alter the benefits of being part of a network. Weak ties typically provide new sources of information and require less maintenance, whereas strong ties require more maintenance and have access to similar information. Online networks can disguise the line between weak and strong ties by changing the amount of information and interaction we are exposed to. This fact, however, hasn’t changed the reality that we interact with some people much more than others. Based on our knowledge of online information sharing, it is important to regulate what information is shared as online networking continues to gain prevalence in our lives.
Reference: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204660604574370450465849142
The Wall Street Journal is a reliable source of information, being the largest circulated newspaper in the US. The article was written by Elizabeth Bernstein who specializes in the ‘bond’ section of the WSJ.