Barry Wellman

Sign in and save to read later Print this article Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Get a link Request Reprint Permissions Last year marked the 15th anniversary of "Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace," a manifesto by the poet and political activist John Perry Barlow that presented a vision of cyberspace as being "both everywhere and nowhere," outside the control of the governments of "the industrial world." Today, many consider online social media as having ushered in the "global...

We analyze the effect of different types of online and offline ties – acquaintanceship, advice, and co-authorship – on researchers’ productivity and influence. Unlike static studies of networked work, we look at how changes in these networks affected researchers’ performance and influence. Using the number of publications as an indicator of productivity and the number of citations as an indicator of influence, we investigate when researchers were more productive and influential.

Our work at the Pew Internet Project and the University of Toronto’s NetLab (especially research for the Connected Lives Project) does not support the fear that the digital technologies are killing society. Our evidence is that these technologies are not isolated — or isolating — systems. They are being incorporated into people’s social lives much like their predecessors were. But things are different now.