Gail wrote:
Nancy wrote: "There are also differences in what is even perceived as a social networking site in the first place. To my surprise, a number of people have commented in the last.fm forums in response to my survey that they never thought of Last.fm as a social networking site because of its central focus on music."
I hang out online with a large international group of workplace educators.[...] Members of this group have a digital language that is representative of their cultural practices. I've found this language rarely includes definitions that are promoted among members of the AoIR listserve. For instance, Nancy suggested that user profiles are hallmark defintions of online spaces. Profiles are treated differently in work settings, including online spaces. These profiles are often times created by employers, as opposed to employees.
Just for clarification, my suggestion was that personal profiles with visible friends are a hallmark of *social networking sites*, not all online spaces. I guess that should be modified to *self-created* profile pages in light of Gail's point. The broader point about being sensitive to the differences between our academic definitions of online media/genres ands the (range of) definitions of those using them is important. Nancy