Preface

The aim of this introductory chapter is to offer a brief overview of the main conceptual perspectives that are shared by all of the chapters in this volume. I will therefore briefly introduce Wellman and Castells' understanding of networked individualism and networked sociability, describing the shift from communities to networks and underlining that networked individualism does not lead to isolation, but instead gives rise to new patterns of sociability. I will then focus on the “online vs. offline” dichotomy, which is still widely adopted, both by scholars and by mainstream media: as digital media are embedded in our everyday lives, the “online vs. offline” dichotomy is quite useless, both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view. Even if they can primarily be observed in online environments, the processes that are described in this book are not determined by technology. Technology, instead, offers powerful environments that enable people to manage their identity performances and their relationships. Each digitally-mediated platform offers specific affordances that contribute to the construction of unique communication environments. Social network sites (SNS), for instance, are powerful playgrounds, both for the user and for the researcher. After a brief overview of the international literature on SNS, I will focus on some of the recent research trends surrounding this topic. In the age of the convergence culture, however, the phenomena which need to be addressed are wider than SNS, and include the wide variety of ways in which people are linked to each other. In the final part of this introductory chapter, I will briefly present each chapter of this book, also mentioning the theoretical and methodological options that have guided this choice of chapters.