Social network sites (SNS) are rapidly becoming a significant aspect of everyday life, especially for young people. The novelty and rapid diffusion of SNS raise a number of questions that touch on timeless issues, such as privacy, as well as emergent ones: Do SNS act as a substitute for offline interaction? Can we consider hundreds of Facebook friends ‘real’ friends? How do individuals manage the blurring of public and private boundaries on general social network sites? This talk will introduce some of the research that is addressing these issues through quantitative, qualitative, and ‘trace’ methods.
