Guide Questions for the Aug 4 Discussion

CASE STUDY: LIVEJOURNAL

1.Give a definition of a social relationship and a social norm (include the source)
2. What are the similarities of Livejournal to other SNS in terms of public articulation of relationships—like in Friendster, Multiply or Facebook
3. What is LJ? How does it work?
4. What are the different meanings/forms of friendship in LJ?
5. What are the prevailing social norms in LJ? Were there social norms? Why or why not? How do you compare these with Friendster, Multiply and Facebook?
6. What are the major issues found by Fono and Kate-Goldie in their study

Reference:
Fono, D., & Raynes-Goldie, K. “Hyperfriends and Beyond: Friendship and Social Norms on LiveJournal.” (2006). M. Consalvo & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), Internet Research Annual Volume 4: Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conference. New York: Peter Lang. Retrieved from http://k4t3.org/publications/hyperfriendship.pdf