Talking about virtual communities and social networks this week in class, i was really able to relate to examples and use my own experiences to understand the concepts a bit better. I related the strong and weak tie theory to my own relationships with friends and groups of people and as a result I understood how important both forms of ties are to social networking. I personally have groups of close friends with whom I consider "strong ties" but thinking back to before I met them all, I realised that I had "weak ties" with most of them, which then developed after time and events, into strong ties. This made me realise how crucial weak ties are, despite the way the word "weak" gives a connotation of "less importance". As for the idea of "latent ties" that Erika briefly touched on, I know that I have the potential to meet and become friends with an array of new people after becoming friends with people from different cities and countries!
The seminar questions also got me thinking a bit about my online activities and behaviour.
I've decided that trust that I have is similar whether I am associating online or offline and the only qualms I have with online relations is that you never truly know who you are communicating with unless you have tools such as webcams etc. I would tell my best friend the same things online that I would tell her in person as I trust that she is using the same discretion that she would in either circumstance. When it comes to strangers, I wouldn't share personal information with them both online or face-to-face! As for people that I meet online, there is a huge difference in trust levels. You never know whether you're talking to a 16 year old swedish girl who likes horse-riding and painting or a 46 year old german man who likes pokemon and still lives with his mother... That kind of thing scares me a bit and I think I'm right to be a bit stand-offish!
Anyway, I'd better go!
Over and out
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3 comments:
I'm like you in the way of trust. I too will only disclose personal information to close friends and even then it will be via email not posted on a facebook wall. What i find interesting is how some people get so caught up in their online lives they they can form personal relationships with strangers. just the other day i read about a couple that married online before they had even met and were now together offline. I guess we can say that because they havebeen so emmersed in their online worlds they may have beome skilled in picking out the fakes from the genuine people but its still a concept i find hrd to come to terms with especailly with the ever present threat of that 46 yr old Germen Pokemon master waiting to lure us in.
Your comments about ties are really interesting to me. To continue your line of thought a little further, before your now strong ties were weak ties, were they latent? In other words: how did you start the tie bond that led to them today being your strong ties?
I agree, the terms "strong" and "weak" are a bit misleading :)
Great post!
I guess there's just a natural progression (in all relationships that include mutual friends or acquaintances) from latent to weak to strong ties. There are some relationships which don't form out of latent ties however. They're the ones you develop when you meet someone completely out of the blue who knows none of your friends etc. ALTHOUGH who really knows when we apparently know everyone by 6 degrees of separation..! Does this mean I have latent ties with Justin Timberlake?
hope so! ;)
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