The offline geography of an online social network: Hungarian empirics on the role of distance and size

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate in recent literature about the importance of distance and other spatial characteristics in cyberspace. The main question is how geographies of the so-called offline world influence the formation of online society, while often also the effects of online organisations on real geographies are in the forefront. Recent empirical results on cyberspace proximities, however, proved that relational proximities are important factors in the shaping up of internet infrastructure. In connection with this our paper intends to contribute to the discussion of distance effects by providing new insights on how internet has changed the role of spatiality. This is done by the analysis of virtual connections in cyberspace instead of the examination of the physical world’s built up infrastructure.

Online social networks (OSN) are major platforms of ICT-enabled communication, supporting location-independent social life. However, recent findings suggest that the geographical location of users and their friends turns out to be a determining factor for network topology. Therefore, OSNs may be expected to bear features of cyberspace and offline geographies simultaneously. Our paper addresses this dual-faced phenomenon from a geographical perspective: how do offline factors shape spread of online communities and the local levels of activity in them? We collected settlement level data in 2008 about the iWiW, a leading OSN in the 2000s’ Hungary with more than 4 million users. Findings suggest that the user rate (proxy for spread) is positively associated with settlement size and geographical proximity of Budapest. On the other hand, the average number of connection values (proxy for activity) is independent from settlement size and is higher in peripheral regions of the country. It seems that the network spread is bound to locations, but once one is in the network, OSN tools help to conquer distance. In sum, proximity favours the offline spread of OSNs, while activity in these platforms might be independent of – or even favoured by – distance in a later stage of the online platform. Our findings also suggest that the bigger the settlement size, the higher the rate of registered citizens. On the contrary, the activity of OSN users measured by friendship ties is much less dependent from the settlement size.