subscribe to this pageBarnes, Susan B. . Online connections : internet interpersonal relationships / Susan B. Barnes. [1572733756 (cl) ] Creskill, NJ : Hampton Press, c2001.
Call#: Van Pelt Library HM1106 .B37 2001
Call#: Van Pelt Library HM1106 .B37 2001
This book examines online personas and how people are perceived online versus in person. It also focuses on the discrepancies between those two identities and how relationships change when people who have “known” each other online meet face-to-face. The book does a sweeping study of the internet and relationships, both online and offline, discussing how the internet has changed our interpersonal dynamics. The chapters I found the most useful were : Ch. 3, “Internet Discussion Lists and Forms of Address” which examines group dynamics in social networks and the trends of lurking and flaming, and the different implications of oral speech in person versus written speech on the internet; Ch. 8, “Changing Social Concepts of Community” which provides a case study of a social network which decided to meet face-to-face and how that changed the group dynamics; and Ch.11, “The Presentation of Self in Internet Environments” which defines a person’s net persona and how it may differ from his actual self, highlighting the performative aspect of social networks when presenting the self.
The book at times is a little too general, presenting ideas that are a little obvious, but Ch.8 was especially useful for me, as I am looking into identify formation online and how that affects one’s perception and performance of self. This chapter looks at the VC-L social network, a small group of people who belonged to the online network to discuss politics. After deciding to meet, the dynamics of the group changed dramatically. Popularity politics and insecurities came out which were never present before. After meeting, people were disappointed by their expectations of what certain people would be like. The social network was not the same afterwards and suffered from smaller membership. I am interested in how this might apply to current social networking sites on a larger scale, like Facebook.com. Facebook is an interesting hybrid because people often meet before becoming Facebook friends, but one may learn more about the new “friend” by his Facebook page than by the actual face-to-face encounter. The same dynamics of popularity, self-consciousness, and expectation come into play here. Ironically, they could also be reversed in the case of Facebook. A person might meet someone, Facebook “friend” them, and then be disappointed by their lack of other Facebook friends or lackluster profile. This book brings to the forefront the ideas of identity formation online and the conflicts that can occur when online and offline relationships collide.
tagged computer_mediated_relationships group_dynamics identity_formation online_communities online_popularity social_networks
by rachee
...on 07-MAR-07