Chapter Three

Social Networks and The Network Society

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Definition of Social Networks

 Social networks : it is the act of reaching out and connecting to others.

 Social Networking is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on

facilitating the building of social networks or social relations among peoples.
 A social network is the web of relationships that connect people together.

 In this way, we have always been networking—sharing information between

individuals that provides enough value to justify maintaining the relationship.
 Some of these behaviors are purely serviceable (there is some gain to be
had), whereas other behaviors are more focused on the socializing aspects of
the relationship itself

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Definition of Social Networks

 The term “social” is used to distinguish it from other types of networks such
as computer or phone networks.
 This type of relationship could include friendships (purely social), the flow
of information or goods between people, business connections, and
mentoring, to name just a few.
 Unintentionally, social media and social networks are used interchangeably.

 But, social media is a forms of electronic communication where as social

networks is the creation and maintenance of relationships.

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What do people do on social networking?

 People use social networking services for countless activities, however the
most common uses are:
 Connecting with existing networks, making and developing friendships/contacts
 Represent themselves online and create and develop an online presence
 Viewing content and/or finding information
 Creating and customizing profiles
 Authoring and uploading your own content
 Adding and sharing third-party content
 Posting messages – public and private
 Collaborating with other people

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Types of Social Networks

A. Traditional SN:
 It offer opportunities for brands to use ads to target their audience and conduct market
research through insight and analytic tools.
 Example: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

B. Media Sharing SN:

 Example : Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Youtube

C. Discussion SN:
 Example: Discord, Reddit, Quora

D. Social Blogging SN:

 Example: Medium , Tumblr, Blog Meet Brand

E. Review SN:
 Example: Yelp, Glassdoor, Google Business Profile, Trip Advisor
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Social Capital

 Social capital refers to the resources available to people and entities because
of their networks.
 Social capital is an asset based on social relations.

 The assets we posses by good value of the social relations that we develop
and maintain, and the shared values which arise from those networks, make
up Social Capital (SC).
 Human creates connection with other humans, and those connection are used
in several ways.
 They can generate friendship and a great deal of happiness.

 However, the focus of SC is on how social relations help us to accomplish

and produce things.
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Social Capital (Cont.)

 SC is the value that comes from social networks, or grouping of people,

which allow individuals to achieve things they could not on their own.
 Below are some of the ways that SC can benefit communities:
 Sharing information and resources
 You tell your friend about the delicious new pizza place downtown

 Providing assistance
 A group of cancer survivors form an online support group together

 Establishing trust
 A stranger returns your wallet after finding it in a restaurant

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Social Capital (Cont.)

 Examples of social capital:

 There are many examples of SC since it relates to human sociability-our ability to
work together, to solve complex problems, and to form the organization that
make up society.
 Examples of SC are any benefits that is derived from society and our interaction
with members of our society.
 Consider if you were a alone, living completely alone, what difficulties or
challenges would you have compared to your current life in society?

 SC can give us access to resources and these resources can be any form of
capital(physical, human (in the form of skills, expertise, knowledge or
information), social through a friend of a friend, etc)

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Network Economy

 The way we interact both in our personal and business lives is changing rapidly.

 We have reached a point of hyper connectivity where we are always connected

and always on.
 The rise of cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) has helped facilitate this shift.

 In business, we witnessing the maturation of a globalized network economy.

 Thus, network economy refers to the interlinking of business processes and

economic activity through the use of IT.
 This connectedness helps an enterprises become more collaborative, intelligent,
responsive and efficient than ever before

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 Network Economy (Cont.)

 There are three characteristics of network economy:

 Everything is digitalized and tracked from our wearable devices to sensors
[device which detects or measures a physical property] in everyday products.
 Everything is connected: from our cars to our homes to inventory in warehouses

 Everything is ready to be shared, our content and data are all part of global
network to the extent we decide to share it.

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 Network Society and Social Capital
 Over the last two decades of 21st century there is a massive change
in the process of structural transformation of societies.
 This is because of the emergence of new technological paradigm and the
pattern of new media- we already talk about in the earlier discussion.
 Internet was the crucial technology in this process.
 On the internet interpersonal, organizational, and mass communication
come together.
 Everyone become linked to one another and have access to information and
communication with one another constantly.
 Internet brought the ―whole world into the hands.
 This is how the concept of Network Society (NS) is gradually come into
sight.

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 Network Society and Social Capital (Cont.)

 In a NS, it is with the help of computer networks that information is created,

processed and transmitted, building on the knowledge accumulated in the network
hubs.
 The NS concept emphasizes the form and organization of information processing
and exchange.
 So the NS can be defined as a social formation with an infrastructure of social and
media networks enabling its prime mode of organization at all levels (individual,
group/organizational and societal).
 Increasingly, these networks link all units or parts of this formation (individuals,
groups and organizations).
 So we can explain NS as all it is electronically connected by ICTs and coded by
culture.
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 Network Society and Social Capital (Cont.)

 The definition of social capital in relation to networks, is as “the networks

of social interaction and the norms of interchange that allow individual and
the community to assume a habit of civic collaboration aimed at common
goals”.
 This definition has the double advantage of treating social capital as a
network concept and it introduces the fundamental element of
‘commonality’ which puts in the sphere of public goods.
 Social capital in the network society advanced towards the notion of
“network capital (NC)”.

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 Network Society and Social Capital (Cont.)

 Network capital can become a valuable asset for human development for
two main reasons:
 First, because of the earlier mentioned importance of SC for human development
and NC being but one expression of SC in the information age
 Second, because development cooperation is meant to be an accelerator of human
development process and the generation and investment of NC has potential to
significantly contribute to renewed models of development cooperation in the NS

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 Virtual Social Networks

 Virtuality has been undergoing rapid and fundamental changes.

 Virtual Reality (VR): an artificial environment that is created with software

and presented to the user in a such a way that the user suspends belief and
accepts it as a real environment.
 On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of five
senses: sight and sound.
 Virtual social network is a social structure consisting of a set of individuals
who interact commonly online, together with the particular relationships or
bind or for personal as well as shared goals.
 Example : Avatar: an image that represent you in online games, chat rooms,
etc. and that you can move around the screen.
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