Comments on: We Need New Words to Describe Relationships

By: Melinda Blau

Melinda Blau — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:28:44 +0000

I believe that no one has aksed people how to label their circles–I think, because it’s hard enough to get them to put them in circles in the first place! Often, people ask to write names on the dividing lines instead of in a particular circle. Danah Boyd points out that MySpace imposes similar rules on kids by asking them to rank their favorites, which reinforces peer-group hierarchies and often results in teen drama. We have so many levels of relationships, and for so many different reasons (proximity, interests, needs) that it’s really hard to categorize people–even though in our hearts and minds, we know exactly how we feel regardless of what label we use.

By: Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:13:02 +0000

I’m reminded of the section in your book (Chapter 2) where you write about the work of Toni Antonucci, Bernie Hogan and others in the use of circles to represent groups of friends / levels of friendship. If they will be doing followup studies, perhaps they could add a question about how participants might label those circles

By: I Have a (Social) Dream | Consequential Strangers

I Have a (Social) Dream | Consequential Strangers — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:08:09 +0000

[...] Megan’s need to put quotation marks around “friend” is precisely why we need new words to describe our relationships–and not just our online contacts: Megan, a way to describe at least some of your online [...]