Beer, D. (2008). Social network(ing) sites...revisiting the story so far: A response to Danah Boyd & Nicole Ellison. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(2), 516-529. [get this article]

     Review:  Beers essay is a response to boyd's and Ellison's (2007) paper on definitions, history and scholarship of Social Network Sites (SNS). The author puts into question the definitions that boyd and Ellison choose for SNS and also the concept of "Friends" within SNSs. He argues that SNSs are as much part of the real world because the content in them seeks to communicate aspects of the offline life. Explaining that the practice of SNSs is so popular that this could become part of the socializing process in general.In contrast the author suggests that more research is needed to define these terms instead of having a scholar define them in such an early stage.  Other than providing a counter opinion to boyd & Ellison (2007), Beer suggest a very important point of view when analyzing SNSs. He suggests that these type of tools should be perceived as tools that maintain and change the capitalist system. Questioning the democratic purpose of these sites must be vital to understand how producers are becoming consumers of the same product they consume ("prosumer" Ritzer). Thus a new form of capitalism is being fostered. Third parties are taking advantage of the data inputed by users in order to advance their own agendas. Not only that but advertisement are being injected more and more in these websites. The Neo-Marxist perspective that Beer uses to analyze SNS provide the venue for future research on the topic. 

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