N.b. This is an incomplete though! There's an idea bubbling up here I'm not sure what is it yet.
Social networking is a term to describe creating virtual communities online. Often those centred around interests etc. This could be my first mistake. My definition here might be too narrow. What am I missing?
What intrigues me is how in some groups use social networking as an adjunct to real world social networks and not as a destination in them-selves.
An Example
My Nephew is a typical 13 year old. Coping with the world in the same way I did when I was his age.
He seems to be the hub of a large network of friends who, they meet up after school but when it time for him to go home the socialising doesn't end! When he gets home, he and his friends continue to interact through online social networks tools such as (Instant messaging, blogging - MySpace) and SMS; a pervasive friends network
For him though the community isn't resident online, the goal is not to use blogging, IM, or SMS to conduct a virtual relationship. The isolated events or meet-ups which characterises traditional social networks don't figure - he's managing a close knit social circle.
Is this behaviour just simply an extension to using emerging technologies to organise local social activities (the truth being concealed behind the use of online social networks)? My gut is telling me no -there seems to be some more going on here.
If there something unexpected going on here what are the implication?
