Resource-Based Model of Online Social Structures
From Information Systems at Pitt Business
Networked social environments that rely on computer mediated communication systems, are commonly known as Web 2.0 technologies. Although their features vary, these infrastructures all provide facilities for multi-person social communication and rely on communities to generate user-created content.
Chicken or the egg? One of the primary reasons for the growth of Web 2.0 systems is the "free" benefits that they provide -- the content and the community. However, these systems must be able to attract individuals to create these benefits. Given this situation, how are these systems sustainable? Members and messages are the primary resources of an online community. These resources can be used to provide benefits (answers, support, etc.) for other participants. A low perceived value of these benefits leads some members to leave, threatening the viability of the community. A high perceived value can attract more participants. With more resources, more content can be created, thus fuelling a cycle of sustainability.
To read more, check out the paper on Membership Size, Communication Activity, and Sustainability: A Resource-Based Model of Online Social Structures by Brian Butler.
This article was originally published in Information Systemes Research (ISR), Vol 12, No. 4, December 2001.
[edit] Abstract
As telecommunication networks become more common, there is an increasing interest in the factors underlying the development of online social structures. It has been proposed that these structures are new forms of organizing which are not subject to the same constraints as traditional social structures. However, from anecdotal evidence and case studies it is difficult to evaluate whether online social structures are subject to the same problems as traditional social structures. Drawing from prior studies of traditional social structures and empirical analyses of longitudinal data from a sample of Internet-based groups, this exploratory work considers the role of size and communication activity in sustainable online social structures.
A resource-based theory of sustainable social structures is presented. Members contribute time, energy, and other resources, enabling a social structure to provide benefits for individuals. These benefits, which include information, influence, and social support, are the basis for a social structure's ability to attract and retain members. This model focuses on the system of opposing forces that link membership size as a component of resource availability and communication activity as an aspect of benefit provision to the sustainability of an online social structure. Analyses of data from a random sample of e-mail-based Internet social structures (listservs) indicate that communication activity and size have both positive and negative effects on a structure's sustainability. These results suggest that while the use of networked communication technologies may alter the form of communication, balancing the opposing impacts of membership size and communication activity in order to maintain resource availability and provide benefits for current members remains a fundamental problem underlying the development of sustainable online social structures.
[edit] Keywords
Online Communities, Electronic Groups, Membership, Resource Based View, Dynamics, Social Resources
