| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
|
|
For example, those who are frequent participants are very often posting to each other, creating a distinct clique of members with a greater amount of social support transmitted within that group.
When analyzing individual dyads, a social network perspective takes into account that e-mail exchanged between two members of an online forum does not take place in structural isolation but rather is a tie that is simultaneously embedded within a larger electronic social network and is constitutive of it. Indeed, the provision of social support has been shown to be influenced by the broader level of the entire network as well as the relational level of individual dyads (Parks & Eggert, 1991; Wellman, 1992; Wellman & Frank, 2001). Hall and Wellman (1985) demonstrated that in traditional social networks 46% of East Yorkers’ ties stemmed from the larger network structure, thus existing simply because they were located in a larger social structure, and not because of personal attraction or choice. Social ties between two individuals in an online forum are based on their joint membership in the larger electronic network of forum members because participants tend to become acquainted with each other through messages and replies posted to the forum rather than having met previously outside the forum7 (King & Moreggi, 1998; Rice, 1994; Rodgers & Chen, 2005; Sproull & Kiesler, 1996). An individual can choose whether to engage with another, but it is their joint membership in the forum’s larger network that makes their tie possible. Social network analysis allows social ties to be analyzed independently as well as in relation to the larger network that greatly impacts both their existence and usefulness (House et al., 1988; Walker et al., 1994; Wellman, 1981; Wellman & Frank, 2001).
An additional benefit to using a social network perspective to analyze social ties is the ability to have a more nuanced analysis of how social ties operate. Since not all ties provide social support similarly, differences are significant, and uniformity of tie content cannot be assumed.