Towards a Theory of Disconnective Practice

Abstract

In the quote above, Judith Donath astutely asks both us and herself about the longevity of SNSs and the extent to which they will affect our everyday lives. Early in 2014, almost seven years away from the publication of Donath’s paper, and as I write the conclusion to this text, one might say that in some respects the question still stands. I agree with Burgess (2014) that social media platforms, and SNSs, have been incrementally and inexorably made over for the entirety of their existence. This continues to be the case, and as my research participants have alluded to, this is a constant source of both problems and possibilities for connection. SNSs seem to be constantly be attempting to provide new ways to organise and navigate our social networks. At the very least SNSs are being sold to us on the basis of new features. Are they a fad, briefly popular but ultimately useless? On the question of them being a fad, I am not sure — it depends upon what timeframe we are talking about. Are they ultimately useless? Well, I think the past ten years of their existence and our academic research demonstrates the potential for both utility and a lack of it where SNSs are concerned. Overall though, one would most probably have to position them as having utility. However contestable such notions of usefulness might be, SNSs can be said to provide employment, the potential for relational development, the development of social capital, fun, sex and a whole manner of other contributions to our everyday lives.

Social network sites (SNSs) provide a new way to organize and navigate an egocentric social network. Are they a fad, briefly popular but ultimately useless? Or are they the harbingers of a new and more powerful social world, where the ability to maintain an immense network — a social “super net” — fundamentally changes the scale of human society?

(Donath 2007b: 231)