Daily life is connected life, its rhythms driven by endless email pings and responses, the chimes and beeps of continually arriving text messages, tweets and retweets, Facebook updates, pictures and videos to post and discuss. Our perpetual connectedness gives us endless opportunities to be part of the give-and-take of networking.
Some worry that this new environment makes us isolated and lonely. But in Networked, Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman show how the large, loosely knit social circles of networked individuals expand opportunities for learning, problem solving, decision making, and personal interaction. The new social operating system of “networked individualism” liberates us from the restrictions of tightly knit groups; it also requires us to develop networking skills and strategies, work on maintaining ties, and balance multiple overlapping networks.
Rainie and Wellman outline the “triple revolution” that has brought on this transformation: the rise of social networking, the capacity of the Internet to empower individuals, and the always-on connectivity of mobile devices. Drawing on extensive evidence, they examine how the move to networked individualism has expanded personal relationships beyond households and neighborhoods; transformed work into less hierarchical, more team-driven enterprises; encouraged individuals to create and share content; and changed the way people obtain information. Rainie and Wellman guide us through the challenges and opportunities of living in the evolving world of networked individuals.
About the Authors
Lee Rainie is Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and former managing editor of U.S. News and World Report.
Barry Wellman is the S. D. Clark Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, where he directs NetLab.
Some worry that this new environment makes us isolated and lonely. But in Networked, Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman show how the large, loosely knit social circles of networked individuals expand opportunities for learning, problem solving, decision making, and personal interaction. The new social operating system of “networked individualism” liberates us from the restrictions of tightly knit groups; it also requires us to develop networking skills and strategies, work on maintaining ties, and balance multiple overlapping networks.
Rainie and Wellman outline the “triple revolution” that has brought on this transformation: the rise of social networking, the capacity of the Internet to empower individuals, and the always-on connectivity of mobile devices. Drawing on extensive evidence, they examine how the move to networked individualism has expanded personal relationships beyond households and neighborhoods; transformed work into less hierarchical, more team-driven enterprises; encouraged individuals to create and share content; and changed the way people obtain information. Rainie and Wellman guide us through the challenges and opportunities of living in the evolving world of networked individuals.
About the Authors
Lee Rainie is Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and former managing editor of U.S. News and World Report.
Barry Wellman is the S. D. Clark Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, where he directs NetLab.
Reviews
“It’s easy to find rigorous science, and it’s easy to find topical stuff, but it’s not easy to find both at the same time!”
—Shankar Vedantam, NPR Science
—Shankar Vedantam, NPR Science
Endorsements
"Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman have combined forces to become the new Marshall McLuhan! They draw on years of observation to weave the threads of the online and offline worlds into a deeply colored tapestry. We can see emergent social norms arising from their moving stories and insightful analyses."
—Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer
—Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer
“Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman have woven three enormous changes in the ways we connect--the spread of the internet, mobile tools, and social media--into a single clarifying story of our present and future life in the 21st century.”
—Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus and Here Comes Everybody
—Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus and Here Comes Everybody
“Just as I would not let my child loose in traffic before I taught her to look both ways, if it were up to me, nobody would be let loose online until they read Networked. From the stories of real people whose lives have been changed, often for the better, by their interactions with contemporary online social networks, to the sociological and psychological theories that explain how life is really changing in the age of ‘networked individualism,’ this is a must-read manual for life online today.”
—Howard Rheingold, critic and author of Net Smart, Tools for Thought, The Virtual Community, and Smart Mobs
—Howard Rheingold, critic and author of Net Smart, Tools for Thought, The Virtual Community, and Smart Mobs
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