Вивчення соціальної підтримки на сайтах соціальних мереж: труднощі та актуальність
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Date
2022
Authors
Любенко, Роман
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Abstract
Статтю присвячено, по-перше, огляду проблем у сфері вивчення процесів соціальної підтримки
на сайтах соціальних мереж та, по-друге, окресленню актуальності проведення досліджень зі згаданої тематики. Зокрема, проаналізовано труднощі у визначенні концептуальних рамок терміна
"соціальна підтримка онлайн", у створенні валідних, культурно чутливих інструментів вимірювання соціальної підтримки онлайн та у зборі первинних емпіричних даних про аудиторію сайтів соціальних мереж, як-от Facebook або Instagram. Обґрунтовано унікальність сайтів соціальних мереж
як середовища обміну соціальною підтримкою, а також важливість використання більш систематичних і валідних способів збору емпіричних даних, що стосуються атитюдів та поведінки користувачів і користувачок сайтів соціальних мереж.
The article outlines the current state of social support research on social networking sites (SNS), which is a broad category of online services, most prominent among which currently are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and reviews key problems that presently influence the sphere. In particular, it summarizes the patchwork of approaches to conceptualization and operationalization of the term “online social support” (social support on SNS) that is present in the extant literature on the subject, while pointing out the main challenges that have been complicating the efforts toward drawing clearer conceptual boundaries around this term. The article also extensively covers the issue of creating valid, culturally sensitive tools that measure online social support, mentioning factors related to both the limits of the existing tools and the environment that these tools are intended to measure. The peculiar nature of social networking platforms as a research environment is explained at length, including their constantly evolving state, substantial variability across different services, and the privacy and security considerations that affect which primary empirical data about the audience of social networks can be accessed by the researchers. Both the uniqueness of SNS as the medium for exchanging online social support and the importance of improving existing tools for gathering empirical data about the attitudes and behaviors of the sites’ users in order to achieve a more systematic and valid picture of online social support are substantiated. The solutions to the aforementioned problems are not the focus of this particular text. Instead, the overarching goal is to create a comprehensive examination of the issues that exist, the ways in which many of them are interlinked, and the reasons why many of them have not been resolved up to this point, despite relative maturity of the research field. This groundwork will hopefully make the search for solutions significantly more productive.
The article outlines the current state of social support research on social networking sites (SNS), which is a broad category of online services, most prominent among which currently are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and reviews key problems that presently influence the sphere. In particular, it summarizes the patchwork of approaches to conceptualization and operationalization of the term “online social support” (social support on SNS) that is present in the extant literature on the subject, while pointing out the main challenges that have been complicating the efforts toward drawing clearer conceptual boundaries around this term. The article also extensively covers the issue of creating valid, culturally sensitive tools that measure online social support, mentioning factors related to both the limits of the existing tools and the environment that these tools are intended to measure. The peculiar nature of social networking platforms as a research environment is explained at length, including their constantly evolving state, substantial variability across different services, and the privacy and security considerations that affect which primary empirical data about the audience of social networks can be accessed by the researchers. Both the uniqueness of SNS as the medium for exchanging online social support and the importance of improving existing tools for gathering empirical data about the attitudes and behaviors of the sites’ users in order to achieve a more systematic and valid picture of online social support are substantiated. The solutions to the aforementioned problems are not the focus of this particular text. Instead, the overarching goal is to create a comprehensive examination of the issues that exist, the ways in which many of them are interlinked, and the reasons why many of them have not been resolved up to this point, despite relative maturity of the research field. This groundwork will hopefully make the search for solutions significantly more productive.
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Keywords
соціальна підтримка, соціальна підтримка онлайн, сайти соціальних мереж, Facebook, Instagram, стаття, social support, social support online, social networking sites, Facebook, Instagram
Citation
Любенко Р. Я. Вивчення соціальної підтримки на сайтах соціальних мереж: труднощі та актуальність / Роман Любенко // Наукові записки НаУКМА. Соціологія. - 2022. - Т. 5. - С. 39-49. - https://doi.org/10.18523/2617-9067.2022.5.39-49