BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER
Connection in social media
Social connevtion is an important and valuable. Social media provides a platform for old friends or family to connect. Social networking sites are so popular is because they offer many benefits and services and help users to connect with their friends, new people and share opinions with likeminded people.
Concept of homophily
The “homophily principle” in social networks — the tendency to associate with similar others — is one of the main explanatory factors regarding relational choices. According to Wohn, D. Y., Carr, C. T., & Hayes, R. A. (2016), loneliness is a feeling of lack of connectedness with others or perceived social isolation and can occur even when one is surrounded by other people. Loneliness has been associated with increased Internet use as individuals reach out online for companionship and is strongly correlated to social support. As PDAs( paralinguistic digital affordances) can be seen as a form of attention and acknowledgment — factors that can reduce loneliness — it could be that lonely people feel more social support when they receive PDAs compared to people who are less lonely as they are more attentive to PDA numbers as they seek companionship online.
Conclusion
The contribution of platform algorithms to the develoment of homophily nowadays is based on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tweeter, TikTok and etc. Those platform create a contact between similar people, whgich occurs at a higher rate than among dissimilar people. The pervasive fact of homophily means that cultural, behavi oral, genetic, or material information that floiws through networks will tend to be localized.
References:
- McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual review of sociology, 27, 415–444.
- Wohn, D. Y., Carr, C. T., & Hayes, R. A. (2016). How affective is a “like”?: The effect of paralinguistic digital affordances on perceived social support. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(9), 562–566.