Social Networks Limit Interaction to "Autistic" Levels
It is hardly surprising that many participants find social interactions on Friendster formulaic. The social structure is defined by a narrow set of rules that do little to map the complexities and nuances of relationships in other contexts. Formula-driven social worlds require everyone to engage with each other through a severely diminished mediator—what I have else- where called autistic social software, as a metaphor to signal the structured formula that autistic individuals learn to negotiate social contexts (boyd, 2005). This is not an appealing prospect for most people and some joked that the “Are you my friend? Yes or no?” question that most social networking services asked resembled the kinds of questions frequently used by Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rainman. Participants’ language evolved to reflect this perceived deficiency (e.g., “She’s my Friendster but not my friend!”).
Notes:
Because of the limited kinds of interactions possible within a Social Network.
Folksonomies: social networking technology interactions relationships
Taxonomies:
/technology and computing/internet technology/social network (0.599308)
/business and industrial (0.371251)
/society (0.150520)
Keywords:
autistic social software (0.993283 (negative:-0.530263)), Networks Limit Interaction (0.991074 (negative:-0.303352)), Formula-driven social worlds (0.873152 (negative:-0.530263)), social networking services (0.817344 (positive:0.203962)), Friendster formulaic (0.791851 (negative:-0.361690)), autistic individuals (0.690470 (negative:-0.493048)), limited kinds (0.653457 (neutral:0.000000)), social interactions (0.636023 (negative:-0.563847)), social contexts (0.633861 (negative:-0.493048)), narrow set (0.581965 (neutral:0.000000)), Dustin Hoffman (0.581004 (positive:0.203962)), structured formula (0.577219 (negative:-0.493048)), social structure (0.573688 (neutral:0.000000)), (e.g., ``She’s my Friendster but not my friend!''). (0.562466 (negative:-0.428772)), participants (0.378267 (negative:-0.563847)), nuances (0.314980 (neutral:0.000000)), complexities (0.303253 (neutral:0.000000)), metaphor (0.287827 (negative:-0.493048)), prospect (0.278720 (negative:-0.446257)), boyd (0.277480 (neutral:0.000000)), Levels (0.269378 (neutral:0.000000)), rules (0.261952 (neutral:0.000000)), question (0.261549 (positive:0.203962)), relationships (0.261521 (neutral:0.000000)), people (0.259536 (negative:-0.446257)), language (0.257492 (negative:-0.428772)), questions (0.255854 (positive:0.203962))
Entities:
Social Networks:FieldTerminology (0.869358 (negative:-0.303352)), Social Network:FieldTerminology (0.825643 (neutral:0.000000)), social networking:FieldTerminology (0.798064 (positive:0.203962)), social software:FieldTerminology (0.759203 (negative:-0.530263)), Dustin Hoffman:Person (0.453952 (positive:0.203962)), boyd:Person (0.343556 (neutral:0.000000)), Rainman:City (0.328164 (positive:0.203962))
Concepts:
Sociology (0.956556): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Social network (0.724560): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Dustin Hoffman (0.595894): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Social network service (0.589260): dbpedia
Question (0.457880): dbpedia | freebase
Rain Man (0.434101): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Social structure (0.414358): dbpedia | freebase
Knowledge management (0.401967): dbpedia | freebase
None of This is Real: Identity and Participation in Friendster