The NYTimes says that i have 278 Friendster friends. The thing about this number is that i actually know all of them and only 3 of them have i never spent extensive time with in RL (research friends who i have had deep interactions with online, but not offline). Most of these people share significant bonds with me and i’ve been pretty vigilent about sticking to the “desired” Friendster behavior in this way. (Basically, i have no desire to be killed since i need this account for research.)
I actually maintain multiple accounts. One of them, with my real name, is not linked to anyone. I created it in case old friends wanted to find me. Ironically, all of the requests to that account have been subjects, people who have answered my survey or others that i don’t know at all. Since the NYTimes article came out, i’ve received over a dozen Friendster requests from people who i don’t know at all (in addition to the emails of people asking me to be their friend and the 1 request via my used Friendster account).
Frankly, given this, i’m amazed that anyone can think that Friendster is an accurate portrayal of social networks. To many of these people, i’m just another name in the paper, one that’s known to have a large network. Thus, they link to me. I’m the perfect candidate to expand people’s networks, right? So strange.
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…
Danah, it’s not so strange if they’re Friendster whores (I *still* think that term is hilarious). In other words, the goal is not to link to your real-life acquaintances and friends. The stated goal of the F.W. is to collect as many people as possible and create as big a network as possible.
Why? Because it’s there; because I can. Part of the challenge is to see how far I can go, how outrageous I can be in my quest 🙂 Another reason is that I feel I can now give something to those people who choose to link to me: access to a bigger share of the friendster network, a chance to wander around as I have and discover new people that you might never have encountered becaue you’re not networked enough.
You send those people pestering you over to me; I’m about 5,000 short of 2 million friendsters and I will be happy to have’em 🙂 …
Danah, it’s not so strange if they’re Friendster whores (I *still* think that term is hilarious). In other words, the goal is not to link to your real-life acquaintances and friends. The stated goal of the F.W. is to collect as many people as possible and create as big a network as possible.
Why? Because it’s there; because I can. Part of the challenge is to see how far I can go, how outrageous I can be in my quest 🙂 Another reason is that I feel I can now give something to those people who choose to link to me: access to a bigger share of the friendster network, a chance to wander around as I have and discover new people that you might never have encountered becaue you’re not networked enough.
You send those people pestering you over to me; I’m about 5,000 short of 2 million friendsters and I will be happy to have’em 🙂 …
Damn! Did It again…pressed the Enter key one too many times 🙁 sorry.
Sorry for not being clear, Ryan. You are totally right. I understand why people do this; what i don’t understand is that, given that people do do this, how anyone can think that the Friendster network is real in any way shape or form. This situation is the perfect example of why the data is inaccurate (more perfect than the Fakesters).
Sure, it’s no “actual” model of a social network, but it may be an accurate model of social behaviour/psychology. Friendsters aren’t really honest. What does that tell us? Perhaps it’s not even a question of being “willing” to be honest about one’s friends, but more of a desire to use said software fantasy world for one purpose or another, or no purpose at all, to ridicule it and everything by misusing it.
Another interesting aside is that this fact actually sheds light on those very people; it is telling that someone is a. hungry for “friend” points, or b. so cool as to misuse for mockery/irony (ie., only friends are “PBR” and “Schlitz”).
so, i’ve been saying for months “this friendster thing is some soc grad student’s dissertation waiting to happen!” and then i was at my mom’s for thanksgiving and read the new york times article about you, and felt quite pleased with myself.
then, what was weird, was that i read more of the article, and found these sort of bizarre couldabeen similarities in our academic careers, which i’m now completely reluctant to share, because of precisely the answer-without-a-question challenges you identified in some post i just now read.
anyway, suffice it to say that if we met at some party or something, i might say “oh! you’re at berkeley in soc? maybe you know my friend jon [ok, and face to face i’d say his last name, but in this context, i feel like i shouldn’t], although he’s abd at this point, what year are you?” and of course in this context, i feel like i’d need to clarify that i’d say that in a fem-chummy way, more than a pick-up way. and my wanting to protect jon from internet stalkers of my imagination, then leaves me looking potentially stalkerish because his name is “jon” not “max” or “karl” or “emile” or something more unique. ::shrug::
whatever, point is i’m glad you’re doing this work! it seems cool! and i’m wanting to ask about methods and sampling and stuff, not to mention your take on trans community on friendster and the whole binary gender thing.
🙂
danah on Friendster on NYT
Cool article / interview with danah boyd on the NYT online
I have to admit though, this whole enterprise, and people’s responses to it (everything from dead-serious to utter ridicule) is fascinating. I can understand why Danah is doing research in this area.
the uselessness of friendster
So Dana Boyd is talking about how useless Friendster is (she’s mentioned it a few times in the last few days). Friendster requests” href=”http://www.zephoria.org/snt/archives/000880.html#000880″>Here she discusses how many weird friendster requests she…
Unique idea on the value and deffiniton of what a friend is and the ramifications of having the ability to contact any famous person and ask to be their ‘friend’. Does an electronic link constitute a friendship and how much leverage can you put on an elctronic connection? Can you leverage a date or tow, or a job, or even a great deal on an engagement ring from a jewler you have never met?