Tag: social-networking
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The Decay of Social Networks
Unaccountability and anonymity on the Internet has brought about “the end of empathy”, says Jason Calacanis, as he discusses the ‘condition’ of Internet Asperger’s Syndrome: This disease affects people when their communication moves to digital, and the emotional cues of face-to-face interaction–including tone, facial expression and the so called “blush response”–are lost. […] In this syndrome,…
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The Dunbar Number and the Limits of Social Networking
The Economist looks at whether Dunbar’s number, the supposed limit of stable social relationships, holds true on social networking sites. That […] online social networks will increase the size of human social groups is an obvious hypothesis, given that they reduce a lot of the friction and cost involved in keeping in touch with other people. […]…
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The Contagion of Happiness
In a 20-year study of almost 5,000 people it was found that happiness is more contagious than previously thought. While there are many determinants of happiness, whether an individual is happy also depends on whether others in the individual’s social network are happy. Happy people tend to be located in the centre of their local…
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The World of Web Trolling
The New York Times goes inside the world of online trolls, who “use the Internet to harass, humiliate and torment strangers”. […] Even if we had the resources to aggressively prosecute trolls, would we want to? Are we ready for an Internet where law enforcement keeps watch over every vituperative blog and backbiting comments section,…
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The Third Place – Joel ‘on Software’ Spolsky
Building Communities with Software is an old article of Joel ‘on Software’ Spolsky’s that deals with social ‘third places‘: The social scientist Ray Oldenburg talks about how humans need a third place, besides work and home, to meet with friends, have a beer, discuss the events of the day, and enjoy some human interaction. These…