People are dedicating more and more of their time participating in various online communities. They establish seemingly close personal relationships with online community members. Through these relationships, they share opinions, obtain support and relaxation, just like real-world friendship would provide them. Are these relationships that people seek from online communities grant them the complete experience as tradition communities and relationships do?
... it shows a desire to avoid the vulnerability and uncertainty that true friendship entails
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
Learning to make the best of sometimes-unpleasant interactions is part of what makes a good citizen and a mature human.
Does the Internet Strengthen Community?
... a "social technology" used primarily for interpersonal interaction could increase social isolation and thereby decrease psychological well-being among its users
Reformulating the Internet Paradox
Let's look at the motivation of the aforementioned action, seeking friendship from online communities. The paper “Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism” mentioned that, this action “shows a desire to avoid the vulnerability and uncertainty that true friendship entails”. To elaborate this point, paper stated that “real intimacy requires risk--the risk of disapproval, of heartache, of being thought a fool. Social networking websites may make relationships more reliable, but whether those relationships can be humanly satisfying remains to be seen.”. This is indeed one of the important reasons that people open their arms to welcome online communities. The feeling of being popular and successful at interacting with others gives many individuals the motivation of participating on online communities.
This is especially true for teenagers. It is well known that teenagers are going through the phase of self-establishing. They sometimes see their own value through others eyes. Most of them grow out of this and gain confidence, certainty, and focus of themselves. But during the teenage period of time, they would tend to avoid the negative side of personal interactions, even through that means blinding themselves. This is just like the paper, “Does the Internet Strengthen Community?” mentioned: “Learning to make the best of sometimes-unpleasant interactions is part of what makes a good citizen and a mature human. Online groups do supplement certain social experiences but does not form a complete experience.”
If we were to talk to some one that is deeply involved in online communities and relationships, he might tell us logically that he is aware of all these concepts, and he is not taking his online activities that seriously. However, just like there's no alcoholic would admit that he is addicted to alcohol. Instead, he would tell us how good of a habit and how much it is beneficial for our health to have a moderate amount of wine. The paper “Reformulating the Internet Paradox” mentioned the “the Internet Paradox study (Kraut et al., 1998) found evidence of a causal link between Internet use and depression” for novice Internet users, such as imature teenagers mentioned in the previous paragraph. Nobody would volunteer for something that causes depression, but this requires self-discipline and restriction. The paper also pointed out that “self-efficacious Internet users were less likely to make mistakes that were sources of stress when using the Internet and were better able to work around problems that were not of their own making. They therefore correctly perceived a reduced likelihood of encountering stressful situations on the Internet.”
Twitter ... It is like thinking aloud in front of strangers. It is a marketing tool and a me-me-me medium.
Social Responsibility And The Web: A Drama Unfolds
It seems that in our headlong rush to join social networking sites, many of us give up one of the Internet's supposed charms: the promise of anonymity.
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Celebrities don't need legions of MySpace friends to prove their importance. It's the rest of the population, seeking a form of parochial celebrity, that does.
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
When youngsters lead a life in mediated publics, the fear is that their adolescent thoughts, musings and immature actions might become a millstone around their neck, since the information will be embarrassingly accessible later on.
Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance
This is a great point, but unfortunately people are getting so used to it, and when someone pointed out in different occasions, he would be the one looking like a fool. In today's society, it seems like everybody needs more attention and a hint of celebrity. We see it everywhere we turn. For example, American Idol has been adapt by countries all over the world, and they've been all very successful. Privacy is what celebrities sacrifice for their huge financial gain. Though, it might appear that they are violated some times, it's actually part of the package. What's difficult to understand is the rest of the crowd trying so hard to promote themselves in a way that protecting privacy is not remotely a concern. Some of us might imagine some day some one might have second thoughts of what he did, regarding to exposing their privacy. Just like the paper “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance” argued, they might be embarrassed and even regret.
Such a friendship might seem shallow, but it is a convenient way of keeping in touch with a large circle of friends, which can be more difficult to handle offline without updated personal information - untold and unasked.
Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance
At the same time, the benefit that people gain from online community is keeping in touch with a large circle of friends, which cannot be achieved offline. Of course, this action might cause privacy issues, it's proven that people are willing to take this potential risk and gain the online friendships. So, my question is as below.
Within a not as popular online community, how difficult or easy to keep in touch with many people, and would these action pose privacy issues?
For this study, I registered for a not so popular online community called GreenDrinks. As part of the standard registration procedure, I had to give away my name, email address, date of birth, zip code, picture, and gender.
You might argue that people could easily use fake identities, but you'll be surprised how many members use their real identities, just like on FaceBook. Then, I investigated the tools available to connect to community members, such as building groups, sending messages, posing comments, and inviting friends. All these seem to require extra work. I thought there should be even easier ways to keep in touch with people. Then, I found an app feature that provides more options.
In the picture above, it shows the most popular three apps. Apparently, people favor apps that help them keep in touch with other over apps from any others categories, such as music, news, and even games. Now let's think about the privacy issues. All these three apps are about tracking actions and update statuses. In other words, they are all about providing ways for others to know what your are doing and following what others are doing. This is clearly a privacy concern.
