The title says it all. Last year my classmate's father started up the Little Falls alumni network, an online community which he hoped would bring alumni from all around the world back to the Little Falls community through www.lfhsalumni.org The advantages of the network included the ability for alumni to log on, create an account, and fill out a personal profile with contact information as well as current status. The goals of the website are stated on the site, but include such things as facilitating lifelong relationships for members around the world through the online community, keeping an extensive alumni directory for easy contact and access, as well as keeping alumni updated about the current Little Falls community and high school.
The website itself is a great idea and utilizes the may functions of the online world to achieve its goals. Through Social Network Analysis, it is easy for me to identify that the alumni network creates many strong and weak ties throughout the network community. Indeed, as a member, I am able to stay in contact with some of my friends not only through Facebook, but through use of the alumni directory to send emails to other people who do not have Facebook (strong ties). Many of the members are former teachers or employers of mine and even though I no longer keep in contact with them, I could easily use our connection through the network to ask for recommendations or employment opportunities. My weak ties with these people may offer me a greater and more unique variety of resources not available to me through my strong ties.
There is also general information available for all members to see on the website, including news and events that will be occurring within the area. This helps keep all members informed about what is going on back home and offers them a chance to be a part of it. This facilitation of the flow of information is an important effect of the social network. This is also a good example of social capital: access to the social network and resources. In addition, many people have the option to invest in the community through volunteering through the website or making small donations.
The website itself is fairly new and many people are still getting used to the networking options that the website offers. Therefore, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to be able to fully analyze how effective this online community is and whether it will help facilitate a social network which will become useful to all members involved. I have noticed that since I first signed onto the website, there has been a large increase in membership. The willingness of people to become a member on the site shows the desire to connect on some common ground with others within the group. There is a discussion forum, with one topic referring to the connections people made through the alumni network, but there is yet to be any comments written. I attribute this absence to the fact that many alumni who are younger have maintained connections through other social networks such as Facebook, while older alumni may not be fully aware of how to utilize the network. Even though the network is a year old, the goals of the alumni network encompasses the many features of social network analysis and only time will tell if the network reaches its full potential.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3186874989969223722&postID=67623633208596175
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3186874989969223722&postID=6896365700978150930
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment