Computer-Mediated Social Networks Networks and Complex Systems Talk Series, Indiana University November 2004

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Computer-MediatedSocial NetworksNetworks and
Complex Systems Talk Series, Indiana
UniversityNovember 2004

• Caroline Haythornthwaite
• haythorn_at_uiuc.edu
• Graduate School of Library and Information
  Science
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Computer-Mediated Social Networks

• Networks created, maintained, and dissolved by
  communication via computer-mediated communication
  
• Email, listservs, webboards, online chat, instant
  messaging, text messaging, MUD MOOs, the
  Internet, etc.
• Communication
• Who uses computer-mediated communication (CMC),
  for what, why, and with whom?
• What media are used to communicate what kinds of
  information? And to whom?
• Life online
• Are online ties as real as offline ones?
• How do we work together, learn, create new
  knowledge at a distance and via CMC, with people
  we rarely or never meet face-to-face?
• How do we design systems or recommend practices
  to support work, learning, and community online,
  and at a distance?
• Social and technical impacts
• How does being online change how we work and
  learn together?
• How will wide-spread online communication change
  how we interact, and with whom we create and
  maintain relationships?
• What happens if media are removed and/or access
  denied?

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Recognizing complexities

• Multiple simultaneous influences
• Context, social construction, norms, practices,
  distributed practices
• Theoretical perspectives
• social construction, structuration, and adaptive
  structuration socio-technical systems
  perspective information ecology social worlds
  social and organizational informatics social
  networks
• New forms of organizing
• made possible by the development of CMC and ICT
  technologies
• Far reaching impact of the Internet
• the connectedness created by the juxtaposition of
  technical infrastructures and social uses
• What happens as a result of laying media and
  Internet connections?

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Traditional Approaches

• Media and the people we communicate with are
  primarily dealt with as singular
• Examining use of Email OR listservs OR chat
  work-only groups, or play-only groups
• Face-to-face is still treated as the ideal
  standard
• Media declared as better or worse by the number
  of cues the transmit rather than how they are
  used
• Message-medium fit
• Lean messages should be sent via lean media
• Little recognition of context and variation in
  use across contexts
• But, we
• Use multiple means of communication to effect
  relationships
• Prefer rich media for all communications
• Use media differently from our preferences
• Communicate with people in many walks of life, in
  many roles, in many different relationships with
  us

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Complexity of CMC

• Media
• Multiple media available for communication and
  maintenance of relations
• People
• Pairs of actors in relationships differing by
  type (friendship work), strength, duration, etc.
• Multiple relations tieing actors, with the set of
  relations varying by relationship
• Contexts
• Distribution, across time, space, knowledge base,
  facility with technology, interests, backgrounds,
  etc.
• External constraints on schedules, tasks to be
  completed, media available and/or mandated for
  use
• Multiple calls on time and attention

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My research

• Adds media into the network equation networks
  into the media equation
• How can we support work, learning, knowledge, and
  community formation at a distance, via the
  Internet and through computer-mediated
  conversations?
• Who talks to whom, about what, and via which
  media?
• What kinds of relations make up work and learning
  ties?
• How are these supported via all available means
  of communication?
• What patterns of connectivity emerge among group
  members because of what they talk about and what
  media they use?
• Connectivity effects
• What do these patterns of connectivity reveal
  about the group and/or about its media use?
• What happens as a result of laying media and
  Internet connections?
• Social and technological interactions
• How do communication media structure the way we
  interact with others?

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Studies of who talks to whom, about what, and
via which media ?

• Cerise
• Co-located, academic researchers
• LEEP
• Distributed, distance learners
• Interdisciplinary teams
• Distributed collaborative research teams (in
  progress)

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Cerise Co-located, academic researchers

• Media
• Unscheduled hallway meetings, scheduled classes
  and research meetings, email (home and office),
  phone, fax, videoconferencing system under
  development
• Relationships
• Formal or informal working relations,
  acquaintance to close friend
• Questionnaire
• 25 respondents (of 35 member group) answered 24
  questions about a variety of work and social
  interactions with 10-20 others (data for a total
  of 378 pairs)
• Six dimensions of work and social interaction
• Receiving work (engaged in by 57 of
  pairs)Giving work (57), Collaborative Writing
  (32)Computer Programming (56), Sociability
  (86)Major Emotional Support (7 of pairs)

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Example of question format
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LEEP Distributed, distance learners

• Media
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for classes, live
  office hours, sub-group discussions, and
  whispering Real-Audio for instructor delivery of
  lectures Webboards for classes and the program
• Email, Phone, Face-to-face once a semester
• Questionnaire
• 4 classes of 14-23 (2 classes studied over time)
• 4 questions Collaboration on Class Work,
  Exchanging Information or Advice about Class
  Work, Socializing, Exchanging Emotional Support
• Interviews
• Students from across the program
• Exploring characteristics of online community,
  learning to be part of an online program and
  community, social support, coping with
  technology, impacts of being at school at home

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Major Results

• Media use is associated with the strength of the
  tie
• Media use is not associated with the content of
  the message
• Media choice is not arbitrary
• follows a unidimensional scale
• Patterns of ties and media describe tiers of
  media use supporting networks of different tie
  strength

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Media use is associated with the strength of the
tie in number

• The intensity of the work tie and closeness of
  the friendship are associated with
• Higher frequency of interaction expected
• Higher frequency overall, for each relation, and
  via each medium
• Maintenance of more relations (relational
  multiplexity) expected
• Use of more of the available media (media
  multiplexity) unexpected
• Found for Cerise and Leep also found by Koku,
  Nazer Wellman (2001) for distributed scholars

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Media use is associated with the strength of the
tie in adoption

• Within a group, media appear in pairs
  communication repertoires in a similar order
• Those who use only one medium, use the same one
  mediumThose who use two, tend to add the same
  second medium, etc.
• Cerise
• (1) Face-to-face Unscheduled meetings (2)
  Scheduled meetings (3) Email then (4) Other
  media (phone /or fax /or videoconference)
  (Guttman scaling CR.92)
• LEEP (two classes)
• IRC, Webboard, Email, then Phone (CR.99)
• IRC, Email, then Phone (CR.94)
• CRcoefficient of reproducibility10 cutoff
  (CR.90) accepted as indication of a fit

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Media use is not associated with the content of
the communication

• What pairs communicate about does differ by the
  type of tie (self-reported)
• Work-only pairs communicate about work relations
• Pairs who combine work and friendship communicate
  about both work and social relations
• Friends include more frequent communication and
  more emotional and social communication than
  non-friends
• BUT, they do not allocate communications of
  different types to different media
• i.e., no support for message-medium fit

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Two Patterns of Media Use Emerge

• The ordered use of media by tie strength leads to
  media-based group-wide networks that are also
  tie-strength related
• Patterns emerge over time, and vary with local
  use and purpose
• Illustrated in the following sociograms
• Note the differences across media, and across
  time (approx. one month apart)

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F97 Collaborative work via IRC and Email by Time
Internet Relay Chat
Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Email
Group projects Webboard also used for
discussion, connected all to all
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Communication Networks x Medium
LEEP Distance students, end of semester
Internet Relay Chat
Guttman scaling, overall communication all term
(CR.99) IRC, Webboard, Email, then Phone nb
sociograms show end of term
Webboards
Email
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F98 All communications, IRC and Email by Time
Internet Relay Chat
Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Email
No group project Rotating pairs for
presentations Webboard use started but abandoned
in this class it connected very few after
abandonment
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Communication Networks x Medium
Cerise co-located computer scientists,
socializing
Network densities .32, .13, .06
Unscheduled Meetings
Scheduled Meetings
Guttman scaling, overall communication (CR.92)
face-to-face Unscheduled meetings Scheduled
meetings Email Other nb sociograms show the
socializing networks
Email
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Cerise Overall Work, and Socializing by Medium
Overall Work
Unscheduled Scheduled Email
Socializing
Unscheduled Scheduled Email
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Two Patterns of Media Use

• Wide connectivity with low frequency of
  communication
• Webboard /or IRC
• class-mandated media
• class-wide, public
• communicate with the class as a whole

• Selective connectivity, with higher frequency of
  communication
• Email, Phone
• optional media
• person-to-person, private
• communicate with friends and project work mates

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Theory

• Does this pattern of media use suggest some
  simplification a general rule that can
  explain the apparently complex behaviors?

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Theory A new medium

• Creates Latent Ties
• A connection that is available technically even
  if not yet activated socially
• Recasts Weak Ties and Weak Tie Networks
• A new medium connects formerly disconnected
  others thereby creating new weak ties
• A change in the medium supporting weak ties
  breaks existing weak ties, disrupting existing
  weak tie networks
• Causes minimal change to Strong Ties and Strong
  Tie Networks
• Strong ties carry on through other media
• Strongly tied pairs adopt, adapt or jointly
  resist new media

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Creates Latent Ties

• By providing a technical means of connectivity,
  social connection is now possible
• e.g., a physical location, a group meeting, a
  webboard, a chat room, an email listserv, an
  online environment
• But ties are not activated, i.e., converted
  from latent to weak, until some sort of social
  interaction occurs
• e.g., by attending a group wide meeting, by
  reading the webboard, by posting to a bulletin
  board
• NB This latent tie structure is likely to be set
  up by an authority beyond the individuals
  affected.

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Recasts Weak Ties and Weak Tie Networks

• Integrative Effects
• Connecting disparate others creates weak ties
• Change can be
• Technical, e.g., creation of a community network
  Administrative, e.g., creation of an electronic
  list for organization wide discussion Social,
  e.g., creating a web environment for
  interest-based discussions
• Disintegrative Effects
• Removing passively accepted connectivity breaks
  weak ties
• Change can be
• Technical, e.g., removal of network connections
  Administrative, e.g., removal of access to lists
  and or removal from a list Social, e.g., from a
  ftf meeting to a listserv for discussion, from
  asynchronous discussion mode to synchronous

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Integrative effects A new medium creates
connections among weak ties
F97 Internet Relay Chat
End of Month 1
End of Month 2
End of Month 3
Increase in connectivity via IRC over time IRC
supported weak ties as determined by to where IRC
fit in the unidimensional scale, and by the
frequency of communication typically found for IRC
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Disintegrative effects A change in the medium
supporting weak-ties breaks existing weak ties
F98 Webboard (non-)Use
End of Month 2
End of Month 3
End of Month 1
Rapid decline in Webboard after official class
use was terminated. Note the loss of connectivity
among the weakly tied pairs.
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Causes minimal change to Strong Ties and Strong
Tie Networks

• If there is a change in a medium used by strong
  ties, such ties can carry on through other media
• e.g., strongly tied work pairs can carry on
  through Email if IRC is removed, or vice-versa
• Because of their need or desire to communicate
• They are likely to adopt an extra medium if it is
  useful for maintaining relations important to the
  tie
• Because of their influence on each other
• They can jointly adapt the use of a new medium to
  be useful for the tie, or resist its use if it
  does not suit their needs or ways of working

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Implications

• Adding media use to characteristics of ties
• Revisiting conflicting results about CMC as
  arguments about maintaining ties
• Resolving conflicting results about the
  integrative and disintegrative effects of CMC
• Support of static and dynamic needs of groups
• Choices about media implementation
• Wider impacts of media connectivity

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Add Media Use to Tie Strength Characteristics

• Weak Ties
• Media Use
• Use few means of communication
• Use organizationally-established media
• Communicate infrequently via the one to two media
  they use
• Whole network support
• Weak tie networks were created and sustained via
  the mandated, organization or group-wide media

• Strong Ties
• Media Use
• Use multiple means of communication
• Use organizationally-established media as a base
  on which they add other media
• Use private, person-to-person communication
  (e.g., use email very frequently)
• Whole network Support
• Strongly tie networks are supported through both
  mandated media and other optional, more private,
  means of communication

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Revisiting conflicting results about CMC

• Arguments against CMC
• Lean
• Text-based, reduced cues
• Ill-suited to emotional, expressive, complex
  communications
• Disintegrative
• Anti-social flaming
• Decreased social involvement (Nie, 2001)
• Abandonment of local relationships (Kraut, et al,
  1998)

• Arguments for CMC
• Rich
• Emoticons and acronyms (McLaughlin, et al, 1995)
• Group defined genres and rules of conduct
  (Orlikowski Yates, 1994 Bregman
  Haythornthwaite, 2003)
• Interpersonal self-disclosure, emotional support
  online communities (e.g., Haythornthwaite et al,
  2000 Baym 2001)
• Integrative
• Connecting disparate others Bringing in
  peripheral players, spanning time and space
  (Sproull Kiesler, 1991)
• Maintaining connections even when distributed
  (LaRose, Eastin Gregg, 2001 Hampton
  Wellman, 2002)

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Revisiting conflicting results about CMC as
arguments about maintaining ties

• Arguments against CMC
• Lean
• Inadequate for the emotional and intellectual
  interactions that support strong ties
• Disintegrative
• new media are disrupting existing networks of
  communication

• Arguments for CMC
• Rich
• Strong tie needs reintroduced by those with
  strong desire to communicate
• Integrative
• new media are creating networks of communication

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Implications for Support Groups Static Demands

• Information exchange for innovation, learning,
  exposure to new ideas
• The strength of weak ties
• The strength of media group-wide, mandated,
  public media
• Task completion related to working together,
  joint problem solving, projects, etc.
• The strength of strong ties
• The strength of person-to-person, optional,
  private media

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Implications for Support of Groups Dynamic
Demands

• Support first time connections
• Organizationally established, group-wide media
  lay the latent tie networks
• Need to provide the technical and social means
  for initial contact
• Support growth of tie strength
• Need to provide social and technical
  interventions such as public and private means of
  communication, and opportunities for social and
  emotional interactions that build strong ties

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Implications for Choices about Media
Implementation

• Organizational, administrative, governmental
  choices have greatest impact on weak tie networks
• Which medium is used across the group as a whole
  depends on what is organizationally mandated
• Choices about group-wide means of communication
  lay the groundwork for weak tie contact
• Which medium supports weak tie networks will vary
  according to local conditions
• Choices are both technical and social
• Interventions, mandates, support for use affect
  how much the new media changes, supports and
  serves the weak tie network

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Implications for Wider Impacts

• Internet as groundwork for latent ties
• Provides easy way for groups to adopt
  peer-to-peer communication
• Weak ties emerge based on interest
• Activists, scholars, support groups, Usenet
  discussion groups, online courses and degree
  programs
• Weak ties can grow into stronger ties
• Online communities, community networks
• Adding new connections face-to-face meetings,
  synchronous online meetings, private email added
  to public discussion

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Implications for Wider Impacts

• Latent ties connections get appropriated
• Hijacked
• Viruses use your email lists to spread
• Borrowed/Mined
• Address lists used to create business contact
  networks
• Severed
• Viruses that bring down systems
• Job changes that lead to loss of network
  connection and contacts

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Summary

• Ties Matter . . .
• Linear tie strength has non-linear effect on
  CMC-supported social networks
• Different media effects reconcile by considering
  the strength of tie between communicators
• Media Matter . . .
• Organizationally established and sanctioned media
  provide latent and weak tie connectivity, and a
  base on which ties can grow
• Changes will impact weak ties more than strong
• Impact of changes will depend not on what
  medium is added or removed, but on what niche
  the medium fills (e.g., public or private)

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Summary

• Time and Timing Matter
• Ties grow over time, and their needs change over
  time
• Media use differs over time as ties grow or
  change
• Ties x Media
• Tiers of media support networks of different tie
  strengths
• Changes in media will have a more permanent
  effect of weak ties than strong ties

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The End

• Haythornthwaite, C. (2002). Strong, weak and
  latent ties and the impact of new media.The
  Information Society,18(5), 1-17.
• ___ (2003). Supporting distributed relationships
  Social networks of relations and media use over
  time. Electronic Journal of Communication, 13(1).
  http//www.cios.org/getfile/haythorn_v13n1
• ___ (2001). Exploring multiplexity Social
  network structures in a computer-supported
  distance learning class. The Information Society,
  17(3), 211-226.
• ____(2000). Online personal networks Size,
  composition and media use among distance
  learners. New Media and Society, 2(2), 195-226.
• ____(2002). Building social networks via computer
  networks. In K.A. Renninger W. Shumar, Building
  Virtual Communities (pp.159-190). Cambridge, UK
  Cambridge University Press.
• ____ (forthcoming, 2005). Social networks and
  Internet connectivity effects. Information,
  Communication and Society.
• Haythornthwaite, C. Hagar, C. (2004). The
  social worlds of the web. Annual Review of
  Information Science and Technology, 39, 311-346.
• Wellman, B. Haythornthwaite (Eds.) (2002). The
  Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford UK Blackwell.

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• EXTRAS BEYOND HERE

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The Meeting Room
Meet and Greet
Down to Business
After Hours
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The Meeting Room
Meet and Greet
Meetings a socio-technical means of connecting
people. Meeting called by authority beyond
meeting members. Authority establishes who will
be there, the agenda, how interactions will
proceed.
Latent ties existing because of joint membership
in the meeting are activated into weak ties by
introductions, exchange of personal history.
Down to Business
After Hours
Weak ties grow stronger as people learn to work
together, learning more about each other, sharing
information, completing tasks.
Strong ties are reinforced as weak, working ties
are extended to include experiences outside work,
in different settings, and more personal
exchanges.
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The Online Chat Room
Meet and Greet
Chat Room a socio-technical means of connecting
people. Chat technology and Chat room orientation
established by authority beyond chat room
participants. Authorities dictate who can join,
what they will be allowed to post, how
interactions will proceed.
Latent ties existing because of joint presence in
the chat room are activated into weak ties by
introductions, exchange of personal history.
Down to Business
After Hours
Weak ties grow stronger as people learn to work
or play together, learning more about each other,
sharing information, completing tasks.
Strong ties are reinforced as weak work or play
ties are extended to include experiences offline,
in different settings, and more personal
exchanges.