Summary

How social networks, the personalized Internet, and always-on mobile connectivity are transforming--and expanding--social life.

Daily life is connected life, its rhythms driven by endless email pings and responses, the chimes and beeps of continually arriving text messages, tweets and retweets, Facebook updates, pictures and videos to post and discuss. Our perpetual connectedness gives us endless opportunities to be part of the give-and-take of networking.

Some worry that this new environment makes us isolated and lonely. But in Networked , Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman show how the large, loosely knit social circles of networked individuals expand opportunities for learning, problem solving, decision making, and personal interaction. The new social operating system of "networked individualism" liberates us from the restrictions of tightly knit groups; it also requires us to develop networking skills and strategies, work on maintaining ties, and balance multiple overlapping networks.

Rainie and Wellman outline the "triple revolution" that has brought on this transformation: the rise of social networking, the capacity of the Internet to empower individuals, and the always-on connectivity of mobile devices. Drawing on extensive evidence, they examine how the move to networked individualism has expanded personal relationships beyond households and neighborhoods; transformed work into less hierarchical, more team-driven enterprises; encouraged individuals to create and share content; and changed the way people obtain information. Rainie and Wellman guide us through the challenges and opportunities of living in the evolving world of networked individuals.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Rather than encouraging isolation, the authors propose, the Internet enables people to connect with each other to a far greater extent than before, Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, and Wellman, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, draw on anecdotes as well as an exhaustive array of surveys about people's use of smartphones, social networks, and the Web in an attempt to prove that "people are not hooked on gadgets-they are hooked on each other." The authors optimistically argue that the proliferation of online social networking "provides opportunities for people to thrive if they know how to maneuver in it"; they also give examples of people in crisis who benefited from online networks. While some of the authors' conclusions might surprise technophobes-such as that people see friends more these days than in the past-the book unfortunately brims with studies that prove the obvious; at this point, it's hardly news that people rely on their phones, search the Web for information about their co-workers, or turn to the Internet for financial information. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Choice Review

Many people are afraid that the spread of the Internet, mobile tools, and social networks and media are negatively impacting our social world; i.e., people are losing face-to-face relationships and becoming isolated and lonely. In this must-read book for understanding that question, Rainie (Pew Research Center) and Wellman (sociology, Univ. of Toronto) take readers into what is really happening with and through social networks in the digital age; their careful, systematic studies show how networking connectivity is changing longstanding patterns of human interaction. They begin with three revolutions--the social network revolution, the Internet revolution, and the mobile revolution--and then discuss how networked individualism works. The authors conclude with how to operate in a networked world, now and in the future. With their expert knowledge about the resources that flow through networks, Rainie and Wellman explain how people's lives have been changed by their interactions with contemporary endless social networking, and guide readers through the challenges and opportunities of living in the evolving world of networked individuals. This very well-written book presenting compelling human stories that represent large-scale phenomena is not limited to social scientists, but is also very accessible to any intelligent person. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. M. Y. Rynn emerita, University of Scranton

Library Journal Review

Rainie (director, Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Ctr.) and Wellman (S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, Univ. of Toronto) are well suited to explore the inherent interconnectedness of modern-day digital society. They examine a shift toward what they call "networked individualism," in which a new system of social operation is at work connecting people in deeper and different ways. Rainie and Wellman argue that, rather than eroding traditional social connections, information and communication technologies, such as mobile connectivity, texting, and Facebook, are strengthening them in new ways. Using a combination of personal stories, qualitative and quantitative sociological studies, and the extensive data sets of the Pew Research Center, they present a compelling look at how society is shifting from being group- to network-oriented in arenas including relationships, family, and work, as well as information creation and dissemination. They offer a refreshingly positive exploration of our increasingly online world. VERDICT Recommended for social science buffs and those interested in the impact of virtual life on our collective reality.-Candice A. Kail, Columbia Univ. Libs., New York (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.