Building Social Ties Through Blogs: Mechanical and Cultural Affordances

• In Event: 078 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 12. Narratives and Politics

Abstract

Can previously unknown, grieving individuals who use PCTs to organize and participate in decentralized mobilizations build strong, lasting social ties? If so, how? What is it about particular PCTs that might explain the strength and longevity of their social ties? Drawing on a case study of New Orleans bloggers who took part in a variety of contentious and non-contentious mobilizations after hurricane Katrina, we find that people who mobilize through PCTs like blogs can form strong and lasting social ties. We argue that this is partly because of the types of communication and interaction that blogs afford. We identify two types of affordances, mechanical and cultural, as distinct qualities of PCTs like blogs, and illustrate how enable the building of strong, digitally mediated social ties among grieving people.

Author

• Stephen F. Ostertag, Tulane University