Comments on: Internet Inquiry Goes to Press! (and me on TV)

By: Nancy Baym

Nancy Baym — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:18:55 +0000

Adam – don’t know if you’ll pop back in to read this, but I’d disagree. There are certainly some percentage of people who use online socializing and don’t socialize offline, but I haven’t seen any studies to indicate that it is a “large” rather than a small percentage or that those people would be socializing offline if not for the internet. Instead, the research I’ve seen suggests they might not be socializing at all if not for the internet.

By: Aswin

Aswin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:59:18 +0000

Nancy – I didn’t realize Deuze’s book was already out. Thanks for the tip!

By: Adam Senour

Adam Senour — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:27:03 +0000

Hi Nancy,

I’m actually writing this blog post having just (as in about 2-3 minutes ago) seen your TVO appearance.

First of all, I have to say that you came across as a very intelligent and capable person. You presented the information and facts to back up your points in a clear and concise manner, and in the process you managed to make Om Malik look like a complete idiot. Very impressive!

However, I have to partly agree with both of you on the major point of conjecture. Om was right in that there are a large percentage of people that do replace offline socializing with online socializing, and I would think that you’re right in that the majority enhance or supplement their offline socializing with online socializing.

Interesting stuff, at any rate.

By: Nancy Baym

Nancy Baym — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:39:50 +0000

Aswin, Mark Deuze (as you probably know) looks at this in his book Media Work (I think that’s what it’s called). But I’m not seeing a lot of studies of dot com workplaces either.

By: aswin

aswin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:56:29 +0000

I can’t wait for this! This will be tremendously useful in the classroom.

And I have a question regarding Internet studies that focus on the industry. My work involves conducting interviews with executives and content producers working in dot-com companies and other “new media” settings. I find that this dimension of internet/new media research often gets overlooked in discussions of method.

So I’m curious to know if authors here have dealt with industry-related questions or if they are primarily concerned with audiences/users.