This essay explores what it means to be socially connected in a techno-social world. It describes how a "triple revolution" in social connectedness has been catalyzed by the ever-increasing use of the Internet, mobile communication, and social media networking (Rainie and Wellman 2012). It argues for the usefulness of the concepts of the community and the network in understanding how social connectedness is created and experienced in the use of digital (computerized) communication technology. It examines some of the consequences -both benefits and hazards -of being near-continuously available to one another via the Internet, mobile phones, and social media. And it describes how digital (online) and face-to-face (offline) spaces become fully integrated and experienced as a single, enmeshed reality. The article concludes that people's use of digital communication technology tends to strengthen social connectedness and prompt, not deter, face-to-face interaction and local community ties.Communication technology is embedded in the way people live, think, and associate with others. Technology -the practical application of tools, machines, knowledge, and ideas in productive activities, such as communicating with others ( Jary and Jary 1991, 515) -has accompanied and influenced social life since the development of picture-writing and words. For those who live in societies rich in digital (i.e., computerized) communication technology, opportunities to share information, identify interpersonal commonalities, get to know others, and interact and form social connections with them can be so plentiful that they can be said to live techno-social lives (see Chayko, forthcoming; Ito and Okabe 2005; and Zeynep Tufekci's blog technosociology.org).In the modern technologized era, digitally enabled connections are created at almost every social juncture imaginable: locally, with people in geographical proximity, across great distances, and even in online contexts independent of physical space and geography. Widespread, increasing use of the Internet, mobile communication, and social media networking has revolutionized social life. Communicating with one another readily, easily, and frequently, individuals form genuine relationships and become part of meaningful social groupings at an unprecedented rate, pace, and scope -especially those who spend significant time in expressive (vs. instrumental) Internet use (Tufekci 2008). Rather than socializing within a relatively few tightly knitted groups, people now tend to become part of numerous, far-flung, diverse social networks that they expect will meet many of their social, emotional, and even economic needs (Rainie and Wellman 2012).It should perhaps not be surprising, then, that the impact of these relatively recent technological developments is being hotly debated. How do people live within and shift among these "far-flung" networks, and what is gained and lost along the way? What are the consequences of having near-constant availability to one another? Has face-to-face interaction a...

Media platforms, technological systems, and search engines act as conduits and gatekeepers for all kinds of information. They often influence, reflect, and reinforce gender stereotypes, including those that represent occupations. This study examines the prevalence of gender stereotypes on digital media platforms and considers how human efforts to create and curate messages directly may impact these stereotypes. While gender stereotyping in social media and algorithms has received some examination in the recent literature, its prevalence in different types of platforms (for example, wiki vs. news vs. social network) and under differing conditions (for example, degrees of human-and machine-led content creation and curation) has yet to be studied. This research explores the extent to which stereotypes of certain strongly gendered professions (librarian, nurse, computer programmer, civil engineer) persist and may vary across digital platforms (Twitter, the New York Times online, Wikipedia, and Shutterstock). The results suggest that gender stereotypes are most likely to be challenged when human beings act directly to create and curate content in digital platforms, and that highly algorithmic approaches for curation showed little inclination towards breaking stereotypes. Implications for the more inclusive design and use of digital media platforms, particularly with regard to mediated occupational messaging, are discussed.

How do social actors determine what is really happening and what is not? This distinction, analyzed in such depth by Erving Goffman in Frame Analysis, now requires further analysis as technologies such as virtual reality become ever more affordable and available, transforming many aspects of everyday life and, inevitably, the definition of the “real” experience itself. This article considers the ways that experience is generated and organized in modern social life, arguing that a “refraining” of frame analysis and a “reconceptualization” of reality itself is necessary to help us understand the ways in which social worlds involving highly sophisticated technologies are created and endowed with meaning by actors, as well as the subtle, long‐term effects of such technologies.