Cultural Meanings of Personal Networks

Irina Shklovski

Although there has been a substantial amount of research on computer-mediated communication, very little has been said on the issue of cultural differences in assessing the uses and interpretations of current technologies. Advances in communication technologies allow people not only to maintain existing relationships but also to reconnect with ties that had faded due to relocation and distance. New communication technologies such as, for example, social network sites enable people to re-activate weaker ties that maybe share a collective history but little current context. Yet we do not know why people seek out such ties and whether they benefit from them. Focusing on environments where social relationships are paramount for survival and where computer-mediated communication applications are just entering the popular discourse can help us examine how cultural preferences, social needs and constraints of available infrastructure shape the use of computer-mediated communication for relational maintenance. This project will focus on people’s personal networks manifested as connections to co-located contacts in post-soviet countries and to the Russian-speaking Diaspora. Russian-language social network sites provide citizens of these countries with new opportunities to reconnect within the Russian Diaspora, to re-establish connections lost due to out-migration, and to revitalize local connections that have deteriorated due to higher levels of local migration in economically volatile environments. Studying such settings can give a novel perspective on how cultural preferences, social needs and constraints of available infrastructure influence user’s decisions and use patterns. Contextual study of Internet and social network site use is especially valuable in a culture that differs from the predominantly Western perspective that developed or provided templates for the majority of current computer-mediated communication applications.