On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 11:28 AM, Nicole Ellison <nellison@msu.edu> wrote:
On the network vs networking issue: danah and I discuss this in our 2007 piece, arguing for "network" as a term that more appropriately describes the way in which users are articulating existing relationships as opposed to using the sites for networking purposes (that is, making new contacts).
And I (and likely others) very much appreciated that you explicitly defined and discussed your chosen terminology. I suspect that part of the answer to my original question is simply that many people are not as careful and intentional with their terminology, uncritically using whatever is most comfortable and familiar to them as colored by their discipline and experiences.
Re: site vs service - good question. danah may want to chime in, but my sense is most users think of these as sites (places) as opposed to services, thus "site" seems to resonate with me.
That's very interesting and very helpful! I have personally leaned towards "service" as I have always felt that "site" was too closely related to (and perhaps derived from) "website" and thus too limiting. Thanks all for the very informative and interesting (and ongoing) responses and conversation! It's definitely opened my eyes a bit and exposed me to some new ideas. Kevin