Net strengthens ties: Study

It's a debate as old as the Web: Do online communications isolate people or support socializing and networking? A just-released study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says it's the latter. "Instead of disappearing, people's communities are transforming," says the study's summary: 1) They're not necessarily geographically based, but include local friends, relatives, workmates, and neighbors, so social networks are getting larger (you've probably noticed this with teenagers' "buddy lists," but this isn't just about teens); 2) the Net doesn't replace traditional communications, but rather supports regular contact by adding more options, more ways to connect (e.g., texting for confirming a date, IM-ing for gossip, email for more in-depth messaging, blogging for meeting new friends). The study uses the term "networked individualism" – how the Internet helps people move beyond networking with a single community to tapping into different communities (of individuals, not places) for different situations. There were some interesting numbers too: some 60 million Americans say the Net "has played an important or crucial role in helping them deal with at least one major life decision in the past two years," and that number has increased by one-third since 2002. Here's coverage from the BBC and the Associated Press.