Network is like an unconfined net that connects different relationships include humans and nonhumans with shared interests. The network can be perceived and constructed by ourselves. When you post your information online, you become part of nodes in the network. People who have the same interests will be attracted, and they may contact you. This is a good chance for people to expand their social network. Like the argument made by Silicon Valley—the idea that social media networks will somehow liberate their users from the hierarchy. You can contact people that you may even have no chance to see each other in the real world by using network. You will have more resources and information by using the network. The network makes the world seem less big. Since it connects all people together, it’s easy for you to find things you want. However, the operation of network is based on economic profit. The information we search online appears in an order according to the amount of money the company pays. For example, if you search a symptom on google, there will be a lot of ads for different hospitals. Therefore, we get information that the capital wants us to get. The power of network is huge, since it will continue to grow with the growth of social diversity. There are too many uncertainties in the network, it is important that how we use this tool to manage our relationships.
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I like your take on the connection between Network systems and relationships. Networks are definitely the driving force for many relationships and this force is maintained through the process of giving information to the system. The more we share on social media, the more “credibility” we receive as an individual. This could mean through the number of posts shared to follower interactions, this hierarchy within networks is merely based off of one’s own effort to interact with the network in which they are apart of. I too find the economic exchange of personal information to money is quite interesting and it makes me wonder if in order to build relationships virtually, there will always be a cost? The internet is one the driving nodes of network and even society, and it feels that at this point, we should not need to constantly pay for something that is a (now) essential part of society.