[Air-L] Social network site nomenclature

[Rob]

Hi Linda,

Yes, I agree.  I used that nomenclature in my paper:

Ackland, R. (2009), "Social Network Services as Data Sources and 
Platforms for e-Researching Social Networks," Social Science Computer 
Review Special Issue on e-Social Science, 27(4), Winter 2009.

I use "online social network" to refer to any social network on Internet 
e.g. organisational hyperlink networks and social network 
services/sites.  I agree with you that an SNS is a particular type or 
class of online social network.

Rob

Linda.Olsen at infomedia.uib.no wrote:
> 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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> 
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