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Networked sociability online, off-line 229barriers to local interaction, and there are others where the barriers are simplytoo big to be overcome through technology or another intervention (see, forexample, Banfield, 1967).CONCLUSION: NETWORKED SOCIABILITY IN THENETWORK SOCIETYIn the network society it is unlikely that people will reject the need for socialrelationships based on physical location. As evidence from Netville, theSyntopia Project, Pew Internet and Everyday Life, and an increasing numberof other projects suggests, many relationships with origins online move offlineand vice versa. When social ties are examined in terms of networks andnot groups, and when the Internet is considered as one form of communicationamongst many, computer-mediated communication tends to support theformation of larger, more diverse, social networks, community organizing, andpublic participation. It is a misnomer to label online ties as insufficient andincomplete in comparison to ties from the “real world” as they are part of thesame social system.As public spaces, online communities may become the street corners of thetwenty-first century, but as yet there is no evidence that the Internet willreduce the importance of existing public places or “third places” such as cafésand bars (Oldenburg, 1989). The reduction in the friction of space enabled bythe Internet has not made geography or place irrelevant. In fact, the oppositeappears even more likely. Most computer-mediated communication is local,affording and reinforcing connections within existing realms of activity: thehome, neighborhood, and workplace. Computer-mediated communicationhelps overcome obstacles to interaction within existing patterns of relations.Rather than dramatically altering our way of life, the new technologies of thenetwork society are more subtle in their impacts, facilitating interaction andcoordination. The Internet can break down barriers to local involvement, coordinatepublic participation, and provide new opportunities for place-basedinteractions. If we accept the evidence of Putnam (2000) and others – thatthere has been an increase in privatism and a decline in public participationover the past quarter-century – then the Internet may become a central force inreversing this established trend.NOTE1. “Netville” is a pseudonym adopted to protect the identity and privacy of the residents of thewired suburb.