« LinkedIn Expands Its Connections | Sacred Cow Dung Home | Social Capital: What is it? »
March 26, 2005
Psycho-sociological Stages in the use of a Public Contact List on Social Networking Sites
Psycho-sociological Stages in the use of a Public Contact List on Social Networking Sites
A comparative, informal study for 2005
It is common to compare social networking sites based on features, attributes, and the sort of support each provides for different aspects of networking. As a general class, social networking includes online and offline networking for either or both of social or business purposes. This article informally explores one such feature - the ability of a site member to create publically displayable lists of links to other members' profile pages.
The hypothesis is that as a member's understanding of the site and it's features matures with time and training, the use put to the publically displayable contact list portion of their own profile will tranisition over time. The article looks at two stages of membership, newbie and experienced, and the 6 phases of use that publically displayable contact lists are put to. The article provides a rating of several social networking sites. This is a 5 level scale rating ease by that member of use at each stage, and the ease that a maturing member will have in switching uses of the publically displayable contact list. While some sites are easier for newbies to expand a contact list rapidly, other networks focus on ensuring high quality of referrals between more experienced members. It is recommended that a survey of multiple members of multiple be run to include real user opinion in the ratings table.
Of note is that there are two strongly determining factors which help determine the dominate use a publically displayable contact list will be put too on a site. These are the support of technology features or lack, and the presence of other member rating systems. In effect, although most uses can be carried out on each site, each site has a strength and that is based on the existence or absense of these two factors.
Psycho-sociological Stages in the use of a Public Contact List on a new Social Networking Site
- Phase 1 - Newbies
-
- Stage A/ Imitation, or, How to be Popular
- I'm new to this site, and want to put my best foot forward. Others' will recognize me by my interests and the company I keep. The high profile people here have lots of contacts. So I should add lots of contacts to my list to be popular too.
- Stage B/ The Game
- Oh, I get it. It's fun to collect all these contacts. More contacts means more people in my network to add to my list. I can win this. And I'm going to try! I'll be the best networking of them all - a hub of activity.
- Stage C/ First Contact
- Oh, I get it this time! When I meet someone on this site, I might want to talk again later. So I need a way to stay connected. I'll agree to a mutual link. We might do something in the future. I simply don't have the time to keep in touch with everyone, but I'll stay connected with them this way.
- Phase 2 - Experienced Users
-
- Stage D/ Quality, not Quantity
- Hold on. Who are these people? I don't get it anymore. I need some way to distinguish real contacts from passing contacts. I want to start winnowing out contacts I'll never speak to again, contacts I don't know well. those contacts I'll never use.
- Stage E/ Network of Trust
- In fact, the people on my contact list are those I trust. I know these people at least a little. Each is in my industry, or shares a mutual interest. I might very well need to make contact soon. This list shows who on this site I can trust.
- Stage F/ Referrals
- My contact list is a little black book of those people I've worked with, engaged in trust-building activities with, and am comfortable recommending them to each other. I'm quite proud of the company I keep on this site.
Comparative Strengths of Social Networking Sites in Supporting Each Stage and Transition to Other Stages
| Ryze | Orkut | Ecademy | Tribe | ||||||||||||||
| Value | Transition | Value | Transition | Value | Transition | Value | Transition | Value | Transition | ||||||||
| Public Contact Lists Uses | |||||||||||||||||
| A | Popularity | Very Easy | Impossible | Very Easy | Impossible | * | Difficult | Impossible | * | Difficult | Impossible | Very Easy | Impossible | ||||
| B | The Collecting Game | Very Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | Easy | Fairly Easy | * | Difficult | Difficult | Very Easy | Very Easy | |||||
| C | First Contact Tracking | * | Easy | Easy | * | Fairly Easy | Easy | Difficult | Difficult | Very Easy | Very Easy | * | Difficult | Difficult | |||
| D | Quality, not Quantity | * | Difficult | Fairly Easy | ^ | Fairly Easy | Easy | ^ | Easy | Easy | Easy | Difficult | * | Difficult | Difficult | ||
| E | Network of Trust | * | Difficult | Fairly Easy | ^ | Fairly Easy | Fairly Easy | ^ | Easy | Very Easy | * | Fairly Easy | Fairly Easy | * | Difficult | Difficult | |
| F | Referrals | Impossible | Difficult | ^ | Impossible | Fairly Easy | ^ | Very Easy | Very Easy | * | Difficult | Difficult | * | Difficult | Difficult | ||
| LEGEND | |||||||||||||||||
| Very Easy | |||||||||||||||||
| Easy | |||||||||||||||||
| Fairly Easy | |||||||||||||||||
| Difficult | |||||||||||||||||
| Impossible | |||||||||||||||||
| * | Not Technology Based | ||||||||||||||||
| ^ | Ratings System Based | ||||||||||||||||
Research References
Kohlberg's stages of moral development based on researchfrom Piaget (1932), Kohlberg (1975), and Rosen (1980).
Erikson's Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development, Erik Erikson.
A Comparison of Offline and Online Friendship Qualities at Different Stages. Chan and Cheng Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. http://spr.sagepub.com
Ryze
Orkut
LinkedIN
Ecademy
Tribe
Copyright 2005, Carolyn L Burke. All rights reserved.
Posted by cmayaud at 11:15 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)
Del.icio.us Tagging |
Digg This
| Posted to Online Business Networking
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
