The research project "The sociability of online communities" has been part of the research programme "Flexit" which aimed at promoting knowledge transfer between the industry and the humanities and social sciences. In consequence, this project differs from ordinary research projects since it departed from a set of question that had been formulated by the host company, the digital agency Good Old in Malmö, Sweden.

Good Old wanted to gain insight into why people engage in social media and spend time on interaction online, what desires could possibly drive people to act online, and in what ways it is possible to increase social media users' readiness to pay for various services. Using these questions as a point of departure and as an overarching framework, the aim with this project was formulated as twofold. First, it aimed at "establishing a sociological and social psychological understanding of social media as a communicative arena while at the same time gaining an understanding for the certain form of sociability that is thereby made possible". Second, it aimed at "providing a thoroughgoing understanding of the interaction patterns and underlying motives that take place on social media understood as a particular communicative arena". Along with theoretical studies, the project was supposed to consist of three empirical studies focusing on social media such as Facebook and Twitter as well as online communities that specifically allow for practices and processes of negotiation of bodily meanings and identities.

Becoming part of the industry and Good Old was not only a question of altering the physical and social work environment, but also a matter of encountering a set of discursive flows that provoked questions concerning the empirical field. As a consequence of these encounters, it became clear fairly early in the process that the original research plan was slightly outdated and would not allow for any significant collaboration or knowledge transfer. For this reason, it was decided to slightly shift focus and consequently, the project came to revolve around two qualitative empirical studies followed by parallel theoretical studies. For this reason it was decided to shift focus, whereby the project came to revolve around two qualitative empirical studies followed by theoretical concept development.

The first empirical study is based on 12 qualitative interviews with users of mobile location applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla (the latter was shut down in 2012). This study demonstrates how applications of this nature transform users into electronic flâneurs that traverse the urban space somewhat aimlessly while at the same time carefully observing their own as well as others' actions. Furthermore, the ways in which physical geographic spaces and digital spaces are interwoven, how they penetrate each other's boundaries and thus creating new conditions for social interaction are illuminated and analysed.

The second empirical study is based on 66 self-reflexive diaries in which Facebook users reflected upon their various uses of this site during a week. Turning to Facebook was more or less necessary within the framework of this research project, not the least since the number of users increased from just over 350 million users to more than a billion during the time frame of the research project. This study shows that Facebook is often subject to ephemeral yet routinized visits and in this regard, it appears to be more of a temporary stop than a destination in itself. Furthermore, this study illuminates how Facebook allows for certain kinds of sociability through various forms of social structuring.

The project's three main findings

The project challenges contemporary understandings of social media users as "prosumers" (people that engage in simultaneous production and consumption). It is demonstrated that the use of social media allows spatial and social boundaries to interweave, thus allowing for the emergence of complex practices of social negotiation. It is clear that social media, contrary to common belief, not singularly promote increased levels of interactivity, but rather support various forms of interpassivity and reluctance towards information sharing.

The project shows that social media, in contrast to contemporary lines of thought in industry as well as academia, cannot be understood by exclusively focusing on either the instrumental properties of social media or the institutional circumstances surrounding their being used. Rather, it is demonstrated that social media is better understood as "social intermediaries" which occupy a functional position in the social realm from which a series of changes emerge, not least the collapse of the formerly popular distinction between online and offline realms.

In comparison to previous kinds of online communities, Facebook alters the conditions for online social interaction allowing advanced algorithms to structure the online social realm in various ways. Facebook strives at providing users with a personalised social feed that is assumed to facilitate interactivity and information sharing. This personalisation, however, often results in a fundamental uncertainty about the other and this, in turn, provokes silences and the sharing of information that is perceived of as safe. The consequence is that the presence in social media is characterised by a "rationalised intimacy" ("feeling" oneself as close is more important than "being" close to other people) and a widespread interpassivity.

New research questions

The research project and the experiences gained from partaking in the "Flexit" programme have given rise to a number of ideas for new research projects which, at the time of writing, have been transformed into two applications for research funding. The first application focuses on the mediatisation of work life and aims to study how communication media enforces a negotiation of spatial, temporal and social boundaries among professionals in the creative industry. The second application focuses o the mediatisation of the body, by studying the growing number of products that help users to measure, analyse and understand how their everyday activities, bodies and wellbeing change over time, while at the same time providing a basis for interpersonal comparison and visualization. These two projects bear a possibility to further develop and refine the idea of social intermediaries that has emerged as result and meta concept from this project.

The project's two main publications

The most important publication to date is the journal article "Social intermediaries and the location of agency: a conceptual reconfiguration of social network sites" in which the concept "social intermediaries" was theoretically developed. In the opening article of the special "Web 2.0" issue of the journal "Contemporary Social Science", this concept was highlighted as a preferred alternative to the established concept "social network sites". This publication provides a sociologically viable way to understand social media and their functional position in the social realm, thus significantly contributing to contemporary research.

The second publication is a monograph under preparation (estimated to be published during autumn 2013) with the working title "Fuzzy relationships: Facebook and the mechanisms of mass entertainment" (in Swedish). Taking its point of departure in the above-mentioned empirical study of Facebook, this monograph provides an understanding of Facebook as a structured social space, which is characterised by social relationships that are hard to define along with various kinds of rationalised yet self-confirming social exchanges. This monograph will address a broader audience and its main arguments will be further developed in four articles that will be submitted to journals in 2013.

Other types of research communication

Research results have continuously been presented in the course of the project through 8 refereed conference presentations, 5 invited conference presentations, 12 longer presentations/speeches at conferences/company events/seminars, nearly 50 popular scientific texts in blog format (mainly on sociologerna.se and martinberg.se) and through various assigments related to Good Old and their customers, as well as guest lectures at colleges and universities. In addition, research results have been communicated through a very large number of interviews and reports in the media.

The project's contribution increased cooperation between academia and the private sector

The research project has made it easier for Good Old to develop concepts and strategies for digital communication in relation to their customers. While the company has gained a better understanding of customer perspectives, needs and conditions, their customers have been able to more easily describe their needs in relation to Good Old as a supplier. In this sense, the "Flexit" programme has provided Good Old with an opportunity to help customers communicate in a way that suits their audiences while at the same time providing important insights about Good Old as an organization.

Furthermore, "Flexit" has led to business opportunities with academic actors as well as participation in a research application on "Internet of Things and People". In addition, a cooperation between Halmstad University, Lund University and RMIT, Melbourne has been launched in order to establish a centre for applied cultural analysis at Halmstad University which intends to allow for a prolongation of the "Flexit" programme and providing a platform for collaborative and co-productive research, nationally as well as internationally.