Design to Thrive

What is a Social Network (Compared to an Online Community)?

Because of the tremendous advantages and the explosive growth of social networks and online communities, the desire to capitalize on the “Web 2.0” bandwagon has encouraged many people to become pretty sloppy with the terms “social networks” and “online community.” Indeed, Bill Eager makes the point that sites have begun calling themselves “social networks” so that they can ride on the marketing coat tails of social networking gorillas such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Second Life [6]. After all, if advertisers are looking to spend their dollars on social networks and communities, then why would anyone be surprised that many webmasters and electronic entrepreneurs should choose to characterize ...