Here is a little debate that took place on twitter between Inkling Media, Ben Craddock, Steve O’Donnell and myself. For those of you who don’t use twitter the @ sign followed by the persons name is a reply to them. I’ve attempted to show this in reverse reverse chronological order so it makes sense.
It all began with this tweet…
Inkling Media
RT @andreacecil: Just blogged: “Is e-mail dead?” – http://ping.fm/v0QBY
ethanD_local
@Inkling_Media No email is not dead and still has many years of vibrant life. It’s still the largest social network.
Inkling Media
@ethand_local certainly not dead. not sure i would call it a social network, per se, though.
ethanD_local
@Inkling_Media a social networking tool allows people to network socially, which is what many people do with email.
Inkling Media
@ethand_local but social network usually implies more of a group/community vibe, email is generally more one to one
ethanD_local
@Inkling_Media To: CC, BCC, “Reply All” are not one to one, they are one to many and many to one. Dare I mention email forwards
@Inkling_Media So are more than 2 people required to make up a “Social Network?”
Ben Craddock
@ethand_local @Inkling_Media Email doesn’t have the community “feel” of SoMe…I’m still getting one email from one person at a time.
ethanD_local
@bencraddock You’re still only getting one tweet from one person at a time, or one wall post on fb per person per time.
@bencraddock I’ve been hashing this one out with @inkling_media you should join the fray 
Inkling Media
@ethand_local in the current sense of the word, i think it implies more, yes. it’s the jump from one-to-one to something larger
Ben Craddock
@ethand_local True…you can accomplish the same things using email or faxes or snail mail or in person. So what was the question again?
ethanD_local
@Inkling_Media my point is it doesn’t have to be large to be “Social Networking” 30 people with email using “reply all” is a social network
@bencraddock the question is whether email is a social networking tool, I think I’ll have to blog this
Inkling Media
@ethand_local i don’t think that’s entirely true. there is a much larger level of communication going on
@ethand_local i agree with the reply all. but i think in general, the one on one nature of email is more akin to a phone call
Ben Craddock
@ethand_local Sure email is a social networking tool. So are phones, paper, telegraphs, smoke signals…
Steve O’Donnell
@ethand_local @Inkling_Media isn’t all networking “social networking?”
ethanD_local
@odonnellsteve I would say so
(final tweet) Where two or more are gathered there will social networking be. @odonnellsteve @inkling_media @bencraddock
***********************************
Some more thoughts on why I believe email is the largest social networking tool on the internet.
Email is the building block of most other social networks
Yahoo groups, google groups, email notifications from twitter, facebook, youtube, forums etc. I’ve seen people “check facebook” by reading their email notifications. Were they engaging in social networking?
Defining the Terms
To really discuss the issue you need to sort of agree on a working definition. Since it’s 2009 I’ll use definitions from wikipedia.
Social Networking -A social network is a social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called “nodes,” which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.
Social Networking Service – A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
An Example for my side
My church has a “pub night” once a month where the guys get together at a local pub and hang out together. The primary form of communication and coordination is via email and since it’s not a huge group everyone can be emailed at once. So the leader sends out a mass email and banter summarily ensues as many more people hit the “reply all” button and suggest locations, make fun of each other. After tallying the votes and non votes a location is decided on.
In this case study “Pub Night” is the social network of guys connected by church and our enjoyment of public houses. Email in this case study is the social networking service which allows us to interact with each other online.
It’s pretty much online social networking in it’s purest form.
Thoughts?
I’m glad I wasn’t drawn into this particular Twitterbate; I’m sure it would have just wound up being longer and more annoying.
I think it becomes clearer once you define your terms, as you do at the end of this post. Is e-mail a “social network”? Of course not, as you said on Twitter. It may be a tool to make social networking easier, or a service by which social networks form, but e-mail is not in and of itself a social network.
Further, I do not think e-mail is a social networking service (SNS). For one thing, it’s not Web-based. It takes place by way of the Internet, but not necessarily by way of the Web. In this way, I’m also hesitant to label Twitter an SNS.
I would add the term “social medium” to the conversation, as I think “social medium” is something different from, though related to, “social network.” When we talk about Web 2.0, one thing we’re talking about is the shift from a medium that left us all still fairly isolated (we could interact with computers much more easily than with other humans) to a collection of media that is causing technology to take a back seat to social interaction between humans.
So, is e-mail more Web 1.0 or more Web 2.0? Definitely more 1.0. E-mail inherently encourages conversation and communication, but making it truly social takes another layer.
You could make a strong case that that’s where Listservs come in. They take a medium (e-mail) that is not inherently social and make it into a medium that is (the discussion group). That’s a huge difference. You’re going from a more limited and dispersed communications technology to a more fully-featured social medium that allows true social networks to form. The way your church group is using e-mail is just a “poor man’s listserv.” People moved to actual listservs because that sort of setup is NOT something e-mail itself inherently handles well.
Drawing that distinction between e-mail and listservs makes your case study less sweepingly convincing, and leaves your assertion that e-mail is an inherently social-network-forming medium standing on just one leg—the “reply all” button. We all know that hitting “reply all” isn’t social. Clicking it causes everyone to wish never to socialize with you again.
“the web” is an application that uses the internet. A mail app also uses the internet as do air apps and thousands of other kinds of apps. But to say that only “the web” as an application is the only means of having a social networking service is crazy.
Are you saying facebook is only a social networking service when I use my browser and not an air app or an iphone app?
Of course email is an earlier technology but to say it’s not a SNS because it doesn’t work as well as newer technology isn’t an argument.
What “layer” is needed to make email truly social? I don’t see how conversation and communication isn’t social?
Again a social network is made up of real people, using the internet to facilitate that social network is a service and email, twitter, facebook, forums, a blog’s comments can all be social networking services.
I was using your chosen definition of an SNS, which says that an SNS is typically Web-based. I’d still say that Facebook is clearly Web-based, though it’s true we access it through various apps, and that’s a good point.
I consider “social” to be closer to “societal” than “conversational.” And I also consider a medium to be defined and limited by what works particularly well in and through that medium. E-mail itself doesn’t handle large, ongoing social settings well. Sure, you can use it for that, but you can also use a TV for displaying a newsletter. It works, but not really.
Sure email doesn’t handle large ongoing social settings well but it can and does handle them which was my point.