Donath (2007) suggests that social cues are the building blocks of trust within an online community. Because online communities lack the capabilities to gather information about other users through face to face interactions, like facial expressions or character observations, reliance is placed on "consumption patterns, or the statements they make on their profiles in order to infer these qualities" (3). The following User Scenarios provide insight into the development of online identities through interaction and building of trust:
User Scenario #1: Finding a Friend
Joining xAble is a good way to meet people dealing in some way with disabilities. For instance, Taylor is married to a man with a physical impairment. She works tirelessly as his caregiver and loves him dearly, but she feels that she needs support from other women going through the same issues of caring for the disabled. Taylor decides to join xAble, and browses through groups to look for users with similar interests. She stumbles on Life Club, a group dedicated to sharing knowledge and experiences in the disability community. By joining the group, she can now read through the discussion posts and she finds that one person in particular stands out as having great and meaningful comments. By clicking on the user's profile picture, Taylor brings up Ahleah's profile. Taylor discovers that Ahleah also is a young married woman who takes care of her disabled husband. She also finds that she can read information about her husband's disability, view the profiles of her friends, and view photos of Ahleah volunteering at advocacy meetings. Friends have left comments about Ahleah's outstanding character, she has top rating scores on the site, and is the host for several groups on xAble. Taylor decides to add Ahleah as a friend based on the signals gathered, and her need for companionship as well as support through joining the group is now met.
User Scenario #2: Discussion Forum
xAble is also a means for asking difficult questions to users who understand the issues with disabilities. Miriam is a 32 year old user with a neurological disorder. She has worked for a company for nearly 5 years, but the company has failed to make accommodations for her disability. If the company does not comply, Mariam's safety is at risk. She is now considering suing the company, but she does not know how to go about it. Mariam decided to log into her account on xAble and go to the forum. She quickly ads a new topic to the general questions forum that is already set up. Mariam explains her situation, asks for advice on the situation as well as any tips on good disability lawyers. The question is posted in the forum. Two users browsing through the forum notice Mariam's plea, and respond with websites to check out about the Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, pointers for gathering information to use in the process, and support for action. Mariam is satisfied because she gathered helpful tips as well as validation from her peers.
Online Identities in xAble
xAble relies primarily on profiles and posting patterns of members to infer trust statements. For instance, assessment signals are valuable in this community and take the form of personal photos of the member. If a user can see another member with a physical impairment or debilitating disease, it immediately builds trust because it would take great lengths to fake a disability. Members are also far more likely to trust other users if similar life situations are shared. Trust is also developed through conventional signals, like the profiles on xAble. The profiles are far more detailed than many other online communities. Members post answers to personal and medical questions about their disability, which gives great insight into the member's character and persona. Scenario 1, for example, allowed Taylor to see the vital statistics, like age, hieght, and disability, while also veiwing more in depth information, like preferences, pasions, and struggles in Ahleah's profile (see Figure). Ploderer et al (2008) suggests that "low degrees of anonyity and high transparency are critical facors for the formation of relationships among strangers on passion-centric social network sites" (341). The information Ahleah revealed about herself offered Taylor the oppotunity to quickly form a relationship.
Online Identities in xAble
xAble relies primarily on profiles and posting patterns of members to infer trust statements. For instance, assessment signals are valuable in this community and take the form of personal photos of the member. If a user can see another member with a physical impairment or debilitating disease, it immediately builds trust because it would take great lengths to fake a disability. Members are also far more likely to trust other users if similar life situations are shared. Trust is also developed through conventional signals, like the profiles on xAble. The profiles are far more detailed than many other online communities. Members post answers to personal and medical questions about their disability, which gives great insight into the member's character and persona. Scenario 1, for example, allowed Taylor to see the vital statistics, like age, hieght, and disability, while also veiwing more in depth information, like preferences, pasions, and struggles in Ahleah's profile (see Figure). Ploderer et al (2008) suggests that "low degrees of anonyity and high transparency are critical facors for the formation of relationships among strangers on passion-centric social network sites" (341). The information Ahleah revealed about herself offered Taylor the oppotunity to quickly form a relationship.
Members use these trust signals to build an online identity. In Scenario 1, Ahleah has constructed an identity that resonates with the disability community. Because Ahleah does not have a disability, the profile is directed toward the care of her husband who has muscular distrophy. With the option to view the profiles of her friends, or even simply her husband, signals her trustworthiness and signifies her social context (Donath, 2007). Having friends on the network validates the claims she makes in her profile. This is also made evident by the display of groups in which she participates. Group identification is a form of displaying prestige, as Ahleah signified her solidarity with the group through the tailoring of her profile (Liu, 2007). She presents her character with the photos, self-descriptions, comments on discussion boards, and comments from friends (see Figure).
Another way xAble builds online identities is through consistent and constant participation in forums and clubs. Discussion is a major component of xAble as the primary support for interaction. In Scenario 2, Mariam built her online profile by posting a personal plea for help. Behind the scenes, Mariam has also joined several clubs, participated in several discussions posted by other users, and established the same profile allowances as describe in Scenario 1. This enhances her online identity because she has made an effort to create "strong ties" within the community. The more she shares and the more she communicates, the more her profile is believable (Donath, 2007). Other users are able to familiarize themselves with Mariam because she has made efforts to share her experiences, thus building her online presence and identity performance. Creating her own discussion based on personal struggles signifies her level of commitment and furthers the development of her identity to the other community members (see Figure).
It should be pointed out that Mariam has produced discriminating information about her employer in a public posting. This is considered signaling imperviousness, where the benefits to gaining information as well as status within the community outweighs the risk of revealing defamatory information (Danoth, 2007). Perhaps Mariam posted the plea for help with her employer because she truly needed tips on finding a lawyer. I suggest it was to identify with a major issue presented in the forums: ADA compliance. Because much of the post is dedicated to her concerns and complaints, and because of the responses given from other members, it seems that Mariam likely used this platform to establish herself as a capable person with a disability. xAble dedicates itself to this theme. This actually increases the reliability of her online identity because of the nature of the revealed information.
Like several other online communities developed out of "passion-centric" situations, in this case disabilities, xAble developed a set of values and moral codes (Ploderer et al, 2008). Although members create individual identities, they all follow an underlying code of conduct which promotes acceptance and non-discrimination in every word typed. Online identities are created with this in mind, as members value the support given through such an open minded community. The offline experiences of the members is what promotes the community itself. Ploderer et all (2008) suggests "in the absense of offline ties that share or support these habits, social network sites can help to alleviate the isolation and foster offline behaviors" (341). xAble members develop online personas that garner support from their peers that enables them a measure of encouragment for continuing to be active in their offline lives.
Notes:
xAble: http://xable.com/index.php
View Ahleah's complete profile here: http://xable.com/profiles/ahleah
View the complete discussion forum for Mariam here: http://xable.com/index.php?page=forum§ion=topic&top_id=100018
Posts
As soon as I started reading your post my mind went straight to the Ploderer reading too. "providing empirical evidence that the absence of offline ties does not hinder the close integration of offline and online worlds." Since those with disabilities can be less mobile, Ploderer's conjecture seems very plausible in this case. xAble sounds like a fascinating microcosm to explore for a project. Americans with disabilities seems like a community that hasn't been examined as closely as other SNS users, yet has the most need for on and off-line support.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see the differences, in identity and use of the site, between those that are caregivers and those that are themselves disabled. Do those that are disabled really want to be defined by their disability? Can a completely separate identity be possible? Thank you for such an interesting post and project. I'm very curious to hear more.
Thank you for bringing xAble to my attention. As Stacy mentioned, one of the communities that definitely would benefit from online support would be persons with disabilities and their caregivers. All caregivers need additional support that can be obtained from discussing their situations with others who are in the same situation. According to Donath, "[o]ne of the most valuable contributions of SNSs is their potential to add trust to weak ties." By using highly detailed profiles, xAble members can provide more trust, especially sharing details of highly personal information about their disabilities. Although this may sound skeptical, I can imagine a situation in which a member would provide a false profile, perhaps to win more "friends." I also believe that just the fact that a person is disabled, gives that person a certain amount of cachet or trustworthiness. It is similar to reverse discrimination, "that man wouldn't lie, he's disabled." Not that it makes any sense, but the overall perception is that their disability validates them somehow. I look forward to reading more about your final project.
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