Internet Social Networking

An overview of the literature on Internet social networking (ISN) is presented. The authors identify four dominant streams of research and review the key contributions to the field. The review reveals that the research field is fragmented and does not yet facilitate a general understanding of the phenomenon. In particular research is very much skewed towards certain user groups (e.g., students) and platforms (in particular Facebook). Further, implications for a corporate context are discussed. In doing so, three contexts of application are differentiated: Social network sites (SNSs) for 1) recruiting and professional career development, 2) relationship facilitation in distributed work contexts, and 3) interactions with end customers. The authors discuss SNS potentials, implications of existing ISN research and future research opportunities. In summary, they seek to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of ISN and to making available the current state of ISN research for the wider Enterprise 2.0 community. Copyright Gabler Verlag 2011