Many folks have asked me why i study Friendster. Others ask how i’ve gotten here. Some wonder where i’m going.
Well, the The NYTimes asked those questions and wrote a profile of me. ::blush::
Of course, it’s not the full story, because it can’t be (only so much danah babble can fit into a 1500-word or whatever story). But even in the slice that is covered, i can hear myself and my advisors.
(Oh, and for those who are interested in some of my anecdotes, the article also includes interviews from two people whose Friendster stories inspired me.)
Kickass Sociologist in the NY Times
In the spirit of our conversations about public sociology, here is a great example of “small sociology” making the news.
I liked the piece in today’s NY Times – but yes it only teases on a topic and landscape that is so rich and emerging. Best of luck in your work!
Hey, I appreciated article, gotta blog something on my personal site (cnewmark.com, but not craigslist)
As far as I can tell, no site has been able to help people attain any kind of real intimacy, which I feel is critical.
gotta go back to customer service now, dealing with scammers and spammers, even today.
… and then start to learn movable type.
thanks!
Craig
Great article. I loved the quote about it being hard NOT to be networked to Jonathan Abrams.
–Ryan.
Great article. I loved the quote about it being hard NOT to be networked to Jonathan Abrams.
–Ryan.
Danah, hope you had a great potluck Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Saw the NYTimes article and was intrigued.
The Kleiner/Benchmark-funded v. serious personals-business-focused Friendster may be in for some tough growing pains unless it realizes that its success may be more about people using it for online entertainment and socializing rather than mating.
Matchmaking may still be a viable business they can be in but only if they don’t clamp down on the entertainment aspect.
Although Jonathan Abrams was so incredibly vague at a Tony Perkins’ moderated social networking panel about his business model that it makes me wonder if they even have one.
Sounds almost like the good old dotcom days. Hey, if we get enough traffic we’ll be able to monetize it for sure. Yep, right. 🙂
nice NYT writeup on danah’s socnet research
http://www.zephoria.org/snt/archives/000873.html…
Danah, I was happy to see the article in NYT about your work on social networks. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about these types of virtual networks recently and if they actually facilitate intimate social connections or promote false intimacy. Glad to see other girl geeks thinking about this.
*right on!!!*
nice to see deep concepts introduced to a wide audience. and the photograph, yes! keep on keeping on.
Danah Boyd
I Kritiska rster om Friendster skrev jag bland annat om Danah Boyd (lnken funkar i skrivande stund). New York Times artikeln Decoding the New Cues in Online Society skriver mer om henne och hennes forskning. Jag rekommenderar ocks ett besk…
I love seeing this topic pop up so often these days. For years, I’ve run a little non-profit website and group that helps relocated professionals connect and build a group of friends in their new city (www.Imnotfromhere.com).
We’re in two cities so far … my goal is to help other cities get it started there, but I just can’t get the word out.:-)
This group truly does help people build a sense of true community. Heck, if I had the PR machine that some of these other sites have, maybe I’d have over 1 million members. (Re. “monetizing it” — well, I sure haven’t figured out that one. It’s pure volunteerism so far.) So if you want to start this up in your city, just contact me. Laurie Kersten at: tctransplants@earthlink.net