Chapter 2. The Nature of the Beasts
What are We Talking About?
Synopsis
What distinguishes a social network from an online community and why would you choose to build them? This chapter differentiates between these two types of social structures by comparing them in terms of the issues shown in Table 2.1 below.
Table 2.1. Comparison of Social Networks and Online Communities
A social network:
- has an organizational structure focused around an individual user's one-to-one relationships
- has weak secondary connections between members
- allows its users to be members of many communities in the network at the same time
- is good for sharing activities
- is less effective at activities requiring cooperation and collective action
- makes it easier for users ...
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