An online community that I am a part of is my group of friends from home. About twenty to thirty of us correspond through facebook. I would consider almost all ties from this network to be strong ties. There are few people in the network that I seldom talk to. The members of this community consist of my friends from high school and new friends I have made since then. All these people live within one town’s distance away, so more or less five minutes of driving.
Common ground is a very strong factor in keeping this group together. Everyone in it has known each other for several years. Many of them went to the same high school as me on Long Island, while others went to schools close by. We all have common interests when it comes to partying and having a good time, and when people are back from college for a weekend we always have a big get together. While the separation of members by physical distance has a negative effective in relation to group commitment and time demands, everyone participates actively. I would say that we make up for our time constraints through the quality of our interactions through both Ftf and CmC as opposed to having numerous interactions.
The majority of the communications I have during the year with this group is done using asynchronous media such as facebook. My friends leave messages every so often but are unlikely to be talking everyday using instant messaging. Facebook is far better suited to my friends levels of commitment and their time constraints considering their obligations outside of the online space. I believe the presence of pictures on facebook has enhanced the sense of community held by the group. Being able to view pictures of each other counteracts the low frequency of our communications. When I am home the community actually uses more cmc for small pieces of information, but we communicate for the most part by phone or by word of mouth.
In regards to the impressions of the community, because we have known each other extensively before using CmC and our CmC interactions are limited, I would argue that no significant impressions are made. SIP theory would say that impressions would take a long time to form using such a network, but that is in regard to people you are just meeting. Because all the people in my community are very familiar to me I don’t believe I even pay attention to anything but shared pictures and actual dialogue. The impression formation areas of the profile seem to have little impact on the way our group operates.
Eric
3 comments:
First off, great post! Not only is it very interesting and well written, but it is very relatable too. I think many of us still have communities back home that we try and keep in touch with, and you pointed out perfectly how much easier Facebook has made keeping in touch. We do not have to speak to people for weeks at a time, and can still know what they have been doing, what their friends or like, or what they are involved in on campus. My friends and I have an e-mail chain that we try and use to keep up with each other, and this asynchronous forum has helped us out a lot-perhaps you should try it!
It’s great that your community has many strong ties, as it is this strong bond that makes going away so hard and coming back home so nice. It is important, however, not to disregard the importance of weak ties. Those with whom we have weaker ties tend to be different from us and operate in different social circles from us, yet these weak ties do have an enormous strength. Since they operate in different social circles, the strength of weak ties is that they have access to different information. This new information could be a great party somewhere that you did not know about, a wonderful job opportunity, or access to a new place to visit. While it is great that you have such strong ties, perhaps you should reach out to those people who you are not so close with-you never know what they will provide you!
Overall, great post! I look forward to reading more!
lauren
I enjoyed reading your post as well, and i can identify with it. im from long island too, and have several very close friends from home who i try to keep in touch with. CMC, particularly im and facebook provide a great source of contact during the school year, because we are all so busy. We have an e-mail chain as well! It is great, and it allows us to feel like we are all staying connected, because we each know the same important things about each other that are happening, through the email chain, so its like we're all having a conversation together. CMC is really great for maintaining the strong ties you already have, when distance and a busy schedule play a role. Because keeping in touch via im, or facebook does not require a heavy time demand, it also allows for growth at school too, socially and academically. Spending too much time maintaining ties at home can keep you from branching out at school, but i find that a quick email, or i.m. here and there to friends at home, allows for the best of both worlds at school and at home.
Hi,
You picked a good community to apply to what we learned in lecture. Facebook is very useful for keeping in contact with people you have strong ties with already but are newly seperated from due to school. One thing to consider with your point is how the Etzioni & Etzioni model would predict the strength of your community due to the Ftf and Cmc interactions that occur. You make an interesting point when you consider how we are able to view pictures and information about our friends with out having talked to them in a couple of weeks. Also how small pieces of information are relayed through facebook as a matter of convience. Good post
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