Individuals
According to Rainie and Wellman (2012), "In networked socitieis, boundaries are more permeable, interactions are with diverse others, connections shift between multiple networks, and hierarchies tend to be flatter and more recursive" (p. 37). Networks changes the Aristotelian way of thinking that divides the world in structured, Linnaean, neatly subdivided groups (p. 37). "Each individual is at the center of his or her own personal network" (p. 55).
Mobile connectivity has moved relationships from place-to-place networks to person-to-person networks (Rainie & Wellman, 2012, p. 123).
Network individualism limits involvement in one main network in favor of multiple networks (Rainie & Wellman, 2012, p. 124). A networked self is a single self that gets reconfigured in different situations (p. 126).
-----Types
According to Rainie and Wellman (2012), types of networks are havens ("a sense of belongings and being helped"), bandages ("emotional aid and services that help people cope" with stress and strain), safety nets (lessen the effect of acute crisis and chronic difficulties), and social capital (interpersonal resources that help people survive and thrive) (p. 19).
Weak ties have been found to help professionals find jobs (Raine & Wellman, 2012, p. 49). Personal networks have "roughly similar mixtures of people: friends, relatives, neighbors, and workmates"(p. 134)...and "sparsely knit" networks have members not directly connected to each other (p. 135).
Network clusters are regions of heavy interconnections. Bridging ties help traverse networks, and bonding ties stay withing clusters and are "necessary for internal trust, efficiency, and solidarity" (Rainie & Wellman, 2012, p. 49).
Networks are different than groups. According to Rainie & Wellman (2012), "These bygone village groups have largely transmuted into multiple, fragmented personal networks connected by the individuals and households at their centers" (p. 122).
Networked Information
This involves linking and associating information (p. 223), and this is increasingly happening in social processes tied to network individualism (p. 226). Information needs to be networked due to 1) the growth in information and the ability to access media and data in place at any time (p. 226); the variety of information (p. 227); faster information flow and finding relevant information (p. 228); new signposts of credible information (p. 229), and information and communication mixing (the story AND the subsequent comments) (p. 232).
References:
Rainie, H. & Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: The New Social Operating System. Cambridge: MIT.