Network Analysis
Ideally, a network is considered as a link between two computers, which may have been created to either share information or resources between printers, fax, monitors, and other computer peripherals (González-Bailón, 2015). The idea of a network has become common in the digital age through the wide acceptance of the internet. The internet, defined as the interconnection of computer networks, has made possible the sharing of information, computing power, and resources from areas that are remotely apart from each other (Castells, 2011). Computers in a network have to be geographically together, while on the internet, the issue of geographical closeness has no impact on the sharing of information.
Networked society refers to the cultural, economic, social and political changes caused by the spread of networked, communication and digital technologies in the world (González-Bailón, 2015). The concept of networked societies came as result of the concern of the effect of industrial capitalism and modernization on the almost incomprehensible patterns of organization, products, affiliations, and experiences (Castells, 2011). The term simply defines the effects of networking technology including other aspects of modernization such as digital information and communication technologies. Another important concept that is attached to networks includes network individualism. Network individualism refers to the social changes that were brought as result of networking (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). Not only are these terms important in explaining the significance of networks in the digital age, but also important in the illustration of the various social changes that came as a result of the introduction of networks in the society.
To fully comprehend the concept of networks and how they have led to various social changes in the modern world, one has first to understand the primary components of a network. Computer networks comprise of three main components, which include nodes, edges, and networks. A node is defined as the point of data redistribution in a given network. It is also a communication end-poin (Rainie and Wellman, 2012)t. An edge is referred to as the connectivity of one node to another (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). Essentially, edges are the connections between nodes. Edges are directed as they point to form one node to the next. Networks are, therefore, the groups of nodes that are connected to each other using the edges (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). In network analysis, the key components of a network attribute themselves to different functions. For example, edges are supposed to be the modes of communication. Therefore, edges essentially link one node to the next. Nodes, on the other hand, are the computers that are connected to the network. Nodes act as senders or receivers of information or contain computing resources that are shared with other nodes in the network. Lastly, networks refer to the connection of nodes using edges, thereby allowing the exchange of information and sharing of external resources of different nature. A network is, therefore, a combination of many network components to allow interconnectivity.
Interconnectivity refers to the interaction of people from different nations, cultures, and social backgrounds through computer networks (Castlls, 2011). In the modern age, where networks have become a common phenomenon, the sharing of information has created the information age where individuals attract with other individuals online through the sharing of vast amount of information among other useful resources (Castells, 2010). The modern age has been characterised by social, economic, and cultural changes that have been mostly influenced by networks. Therefore, networks have had a considerable effect on the society that has changed the way people run their lives.
Alternative Social Media Site
Ello is a social media network that was created in 2014 by Paul Budnitz and Todd Berger. The site used to resemble Facebook: However, it has recently changed into a social media site that allows the sharing of art, photography, web culture, and fashion. Ello was created as an alternative to existing social networks. Unlike other social networks, the site is ad-free. Therefore, there are no advertisements whatsoever on the website. Furthermore, the website also does not sell user data to third parties or advertisers, does not include advertisements, and does not enforce a real-name policy (Gehl, 2015). Therefore, an individual can sign up to the website without being asked to give personal information that can be used to identify them.
The social network started as a private social network but was later made available to the public after one year. The social network aims at creating an ad-free social network site that values user privacy. The site acts as a site for publishing different types of information. Ello allows a hire me button and buy button that helps individuals across different communities to hire services and purchase goods via the online platform. The site has no particular revenue model due to its free to use nature. Profiles in this site are presented in a unique way, which distinguishes the site from most social network sites. An individual’s profile does not need to indicate the city or town of residence, occupation, phone number among other notable personal information as witnessed in most social networking sites.
Love in a Digital Age
EHarmony is a dating site that aims at bringing together single men and women in the prospect of long-term relationships. The dating site includes personal information about an individual on his or her profile. However, the individual may choose what personal information to publish to the public on the site. Meaning the information he chooses to be public will be available when any other user of the site views the specific individual’s profile. The site makes use of personal information like location, first and last name among other important information.
The site allows a slot for a profile picture of the individual. Consequently, there is the functionality of providing more images about a specific person, to give a clearer picture of what the individual is really like. However, the site focuses on predicting compatibility of two individuals leading to a successful or rather satisfying relationship. The dating website has a member population of more than 40 million. As a member of the dating site, one has to take a questionnaire that aims at describing the specific personality of an individual and match it to personalities of other individuals that show a great possibility of having a satisfying relationship. As a result of the functionality of the dating site, more than 15,000 members take the questionnaire every single day. After a specific individual completes filling out the questionnaire, they are shown the results, which include a number of members of the site that match the individual’s personality.
In the modern technological age, love and intimacy are just definitions of attachments that can be made possible through online dating sites and social media sites. Online dating sites depict a person’s personality mostly from what they think of themselves. People using dating sites get to miss out on real experiences that define the way an individual meets someone, loves him or her and they evenstually share intimate moments. The dating sites are made lucrative because they provide a short-cut from meeting people online and does not require the time and patience it takes to find a given individual, establish a relationship with him or her and eventually start dating.
Reflections
The digital age has provided various ways of people meeting and sharing information. One does not need to worry about the distance that keeps them apart when sharing viable information, carrying out business deals and transactions amongst enabling other meaningful interpersonal interactions in life (Turkle, 2012). Some of the platforms that enable these experiences are revenue oriented. Therefore, they end up selling user information to third parties and advertising agencies. This results to the disrespect of user’s privacy need by providing private user information to business entities for monetary gain (Rapp et al., 2013).
However, the digital age has also given rise to social media sites that respect the privacy needs of the users. Furthermore, these social sites, for which a perfect example is Ello, do not have the Real-name rule and do not make it a necessity for you to provide personal information when registering on the social network site. Therefore, in such social networks, it is possible for someone to post intimate and personal opinions, views and ideas while maintaining their privacy by being anonymous. Ello, as an ad-free site, encourages interactions that are personal in nature than other social network sites that have a real-name policy and necessitates the provision of other personal and identity information.
Personal interactions do not only happen on social media sites but also on dating sites. In the modern world, people have become so much dependent on the internet. Currently, nobody in the world can imagine the possibility of the world without the internet. Due to the dependence of the world on technology, it has led to the most intimate of human interactions to take a technological approach (Turkle, 2012). Using dating sites has enabled many people to avoid the Huss and fuss of meeting a person face-to-face and deciding whether or not he or she is a perfect match of your idea of the ideal individual with whom you can share the most of the intimate moments with.
Therefore, the effect of networks, social network sites, and dating sites has made the world a better place and has destroyed various aspects of human interactions. The invention of networks that led to the invention of the internet has made the world to become a global village. It has enabled the possibility of businesses to be multinational in a market but still stay local in the organizational perspective. The internet has enabled the creation of social network sites that have taken the idea of interpersonal interactions to a whole new level (Hinton and Hjorth, 2013). The rise of the effect of social media in almost every aspect of life has led to their adoption as cost-effective and efficient marketing tools in most organizations.
Ultimately, the world has changed as a result of the effects of concepts of networks and the internet, on the society. The way we look at different phenomena of life has also considerably changed. The amount and diversity of human interactions have simply been reduced to an online exchange of information often via private messaging through popular social network sites.
Bibliography
Castells, M., 2010. End of Millennium: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.
Castells, M., 2011. The rise of the network society: The information age: Economy, society, and culture. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.
Gehl, Robert. W. 2015. ‘The Case for Alternative Social Media’, Social Media and Society. July-December, pp. 1-12. http://sms.sagepub.com/content/1/2/2056305115604338.full.pdf+html
González-Bailón, S., 2015. Networked. The new social operating system. Cmbridge: MIT Press.
Hinton, S. and Hjorth, L., 2013. Understanding social media. London, Sage.
Rainie, L. and Wellman, B., 2012. Networked: The new social operating system. Cambrdge, Massachusetts, MIT Press.
Rapp, A., Beitelspacher, L.S., Grewal, D. and Hughes, D.E., 2013. Understanding social media effects across seller, retailer, and consumer interactions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(5), pp.547-566.
Turkle, S., 2012. Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic books.
