Start Date

12-16-2013

Description

Although social network, social media, social networking site, online game and online community are all terms found in the literature, do they actually refer to radically different environments? The paper proposes a generic definition for Virtual Social Networks (VSNs) and it identifies the environments' five essential dimensions. Thanks to a simple reference framework it becomes possible to compare the research work on the different environments and their varied theoretical approaches. The paper is based on both the literature and original research.

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Dec 16th, 12:00 AM

Virtual Social Network characterization: reference framework for a comparative analysis

Although social network, social media, social networking site, online game and online community are all terms found in the literature, do they actually refer to radically different environments? The paper proposes a generic definition for Virtual Social Networks (VSNs) and it identifies the environments' five essential dimensions. Thanks to a simple reference framework it becomes possible to compare the research work on the different environments and their varied theoretical approaches. The paper is based on both the literature and original research.