[Air-L] Social network site nomenclature

[Linda.Olsen at infomedia.uib.no]

Hi Kevin.

I think the reason why some researchers still use "online social  
networks" is that not all social networks on the Internet are bound to  
a SNS.

The way I see it, a SNS refers to a service that supports online  
social networks (such as Facebook or LinkedIn). It would, however, be  
quite tiresome and redundant to refer to them as "online social  
network services", when SNSs no doubt all exist online. Social  
networks, however, do not.

Now, I don't know if some researchers also use ONS when they write  
about Facebook or LinkedIn, but I would expect the term to appear when  
dealing with social networks on the Internet in general, and not when  
dealing explicitly with SNSs.

Anyone agree/disagree?

Linda

Siterer Kevin Guidry <krguidry at gmail.com>:

> All,
>
> Much of the available research refers to services such as Facebook and
> MySpace as "social network(ing) sites/services (SNS)."  Let's ignore
> for the moment the differences between those four permutations as I'm
> more interested in learning about why some researchers use "online
> social networks (ONS)."  SNS seems to be much more common,
> particularly in the wake of the late 2007 JCMC special theme issue
> focusing on SNSs.
>
> Given that both terms are still in use, is there some sort of subtle
> cultural or discipline-based divide of which I am unaware?  Or is this
> just an oddity that isn't important or indicative of anything more
> than personal preference?
>
>
> Kevin
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