Folks, Here is the press release for our new Pew Report on the intersection of social, communication and computer networks. Jeff Boase and I deeply thank John Horrigan and Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life project for being such wonderful collaborators. Barry PS: When next we meet at conference, buy me a latte and we'll talk about the interesting life of being in the media spotlight for the short term. _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________ "The Strength of Internet Ties" Jeffrey Boase, John Horrigan, Barry Wellman and Lee Rainie Full report at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/172/report_display.asp The internet improves Americans' capacity to maintain their social networks and they gain a big payoff when they use the internet to activate those networks to solicit help Washington (January 25, 2005) - The internet and email expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the offline world, according to a new report released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. One major payoff comes when people use the internet to press their social networks into action as they face major challenges. People not only socialize online, but they also incorporate the internet into their quest for information and advice as they seek help and make decisions. Disputing concerns that heavy use of the internet might diminish people's social relations, the report finds that the internet fits seamlessly with Americans' in-person and phone encounters. With the help of the internet, people are able to maintain active contact with sizable social networks, even though many of the people in those networks do not live close to them. The report, "The Strength of Internet Ties," highlights how email supplements, rather than replaces, the communication people have with others in their network. "The larger, the more far-flung, and the more diverse a person's network, the more important email is," argues Jeffrey Boase, a University of Toronto sociologist who co-authored the Pew Internet Project report. "You can't make phone calls or personal visits to all your friends very often, but you can 'cc' them regularly with a couple of keystrokes. That turns out to be very important." One major benefit comes when people want to mobilize their networks as they face problems or significant decisions. The Pew Internet Project survey finds that internet users are more likely than non-users to have been helped by those in their networks as they faced important events in their life. "Internet use provides online Americans a path to resources, such as access to people who may have the right information to help deal with family health crises or find a new job," says John Horrigan, Associate Director for Research at the Pew Internet Project and another author of the report. "When you need help these days, you don't need a bugle to call the cavalry, you need a big buddy list." These survey findings fit into a larger transformation in social relations that sociologist Barry Wellman of the University of Toronto has called the rise of "networked individualism." He says that users of modern technology are less tied to local groups and increasingly tied to looser and more geographically scattered networks. "The internet and the cell phone have transformed communication: Instead of being based on house-to-house interactions, they are built on person-to-person exchanges," maintains Wellman, also a co-author of the report. "This creates a new basis for community. Rather than relying on a single community for social support, individuals often must actively seek out a variety of appropriate people and resources for different situations." In addition to using the internet to get help from their networks, some use the internet to get information and compare options as they face decisions and milestones in their lives. One of the Pew Internet Project surveys covered in this report shows that 45% of internet users - about 60 million Americans - say the internet has played an important or crucial role in helping them deal with at least one major life decision in the previous two years. That is a 33% increase from a similar survey in early 2002. The eight major decisions queried in a March 2005 survey were: Getting additional training for your career: About 21 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Helping another person with a major illness or medical condition: About 17 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Choosing a school for yourself or a child: About 17 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Buying a car: About 16 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Making a major investment or financial decision: About 16 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Finding a new place to live: About 10 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Changing jobs: About 8 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. Dealing oneself with a major illness or health condition: About 7 million said the internet had played a crucial or important role in this. This report is based on the findings of two daily tracking surveys on Americans' use of the Internet. The Project's Social Ties survey was fielded from February 17, 2004, through March 17, 2004, and it involved interviews with 2,200 adults age 18 and older. The Project's Major Moments survey was fielded from February 21, 2004, through March 21, 2004, and it involved interviews with 2,201 adults. Both surveys have a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. -30-
And here's the Toronto Globe & Mail's take on this research.........Alex Kuskis http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060126.wxinternet26/BNS... Internet doesn't destroy relationships, a new study finds, it strengthens them By JILL MAHONEY Thursday, January 26, 2006 Posted at 5:31 AM EST
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
The initial warnings about the Internet's creep into modern lives were dire: Communities would crumble because people would be chained to their computers. But a new study by Canadian researchers suggests the Web actually expands and strengthens relationships. "The Internet is adding on to community rather than destroying it," said Barry Wellman, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who co-wrote the report. "There were a huge number of people running around saying the sky was falling a few years ago. What we found is the sky isn't falling, that life is going on and quite happily." The study, which was released yesterday, examined Americans' Internet habits and found that computer users have larger social networks than non-users. And, perhaps surprisingly, people who use e-mail actually have more phone and face-to-face contact with their friends, families and associates. "The current generation of e-mail users is communicating much more often than recent generations and possibly more often than any previous generation since people huddled in caves with only conversation to pass the nights away," says the study, which was funded by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Heavy e-mail users have more than twice as much land-line phone contact within their social networks and three times as much cellular phone contact than people who do not use e-mail, according to the report. "E-mail supplements, rather than replaces, the communication people have with people who are very close to them -- as well as . . . with those not so close," the report says in noting e-mail's key role in maintaining ties between acquaintances. Prof. Wellman, who was asked by the Pew organization to get involved with the research, said the conclusions are "highly similar to what we'd find with Canadians." The reason e-mail breeds increased communication, the report suggests, could be because, as the old maxim goes, one thing simply leads to another. For example, an e-mail exchange between colleagues about a complex issue might spark a phone call to continue the discussion. Or friends could use e-mail to arrange a night at the movies. "There's an ecology of media and they all fit together," Prof. Wellman said. E-mail -- which is the Internet's most popular application -- has long been extolled for helping far-flung friends and relatives stay in touch because it is convenient, inexpensive, unobtrusive and fits seamlessly into busy modern lives. While social networks were once geographically based -- people's lives revolved around local friends, neighbours and co-workers -- they are now much more dispersed. (The report looked at other Internet applications, including instant messaging, weblogs and webcams.) Take Jeffrey Boase, a University of Toronto doctoral student in sociology who also co-wrote the report. Most mornings, Mr. Boase talks to his girlfriend in Japan by webcam. The pair, who met three years ago in Kyoto, were initially friends but their romance heated up over e-mail. Their relationship became serious during a fall visit and is now sustained by long webcam conversations. "It's interesting -- we started with e-mail when we didn't know each other as well and then the more we got to know each other, we moved to the more rich form of communication," he said. However, the report, which is primarily based on the findings of a telephone survey of 2,200 American adults done in February and March of 2004, also found the "great bulk of ties" nurtured by the Internet were among people living in the same city, Prof. Wellman said. "That's where our lives are. We still are physical beings, we're not just computer bits. We're still atoms, we still have physical needs," he said. But despite the Internet's deep reach, the survey found that the most common mode of communication remains the land-line telephone and personal interaction. The study also found that Internet users are more likely than non-users to get help from their contacts. As well, nearly one-third of adult Americans said the Internet had played a key role in dealing with at least one recent major life decision.
Folks,
Here is the press release for our new Pew Report on the intersection of social, communication and computer networks.
Jeff Boase and I deeply thank John Horrigan and Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life project for being such wonderful collaborators.
Barry
PS: When next we meet at conference, buy me a latte and we'll talk about the interesting life of being in the media spotlight for the short term.
_____________________________________________________________________
Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________
"The Strength of Internet Ties" Jeffrey Boase, John Horrigan, Barry Wellman and Lee Rainie Full report at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/172/report_display.asp
The internet improves Americans' capacity to maintain their social networks and they gain a big payoff when they use the internet to activate those networks to solicit help
participants (2)
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Alex Kuskis -
Barry Wellman