An electronic group is virtually a social network.

Abstract

Laura Garton, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Sara Kiesler and Marilyn Mantei gave me excellent substantive and editorial advice in the preparation of this chapter. I have also benefited from the stimulating ongoing comments of other members of our research group studying computer supported social networks: Janet Salaff, Dimitrina Dimitrova, Milena Gulia and Emmanuel Koku. Our research has been supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Bell Canada, and the Information Technology Research Centre. This paper is dedicated to Philip J. Stone III, who first put me online in 1965.