The paper analyzes SMSGupShup, a mobile-centric social networking platform in India. It focuses on a set of dominant users (young, male) who are re-defining the nature of micro-blogging and the creation of mobile networking communities. Like many social networking sites, assembling, maintaining and growing social networks are primary behaviors on GupShup. Unlike many others, where maintaining a personalized profile and conversing with a networked community take prominence, users of GupShup show markedly different messaging or broadcasting practices. While captivated by the idea of connecting with people all over India for the first time through the GupShup platform, the primary motivation of users is not conversation, forging a “second life” or building interest groups but optimizing the networking service to expand one’s own group membership. From a qualitative study of user profiles, the paper demonstrates how GupShup can inform thinking about facets of mobile communities in developing countries: specifically, changing ideas about the networking platform as “second social life” to one of pecuniary “resource.”
重塑網絡資源：來自一個印度移動社交網絡的啟示
本文分析印度短信社交網絡（SMSGupShup)－－一個以移動電話為中心的印度社交網絡平台。本文著重探討了其主要用戶（青年男性）對微博的意義以及移動網絡社區建設的重新定義。就如其它的社交網絡一樣，組合、維持和發展社交網絡是印度短信社交網絡上的主要的活動。在其它社交網站上，維持個人化的傳略以及在網絡社區進行交流是最主要的活動，而印度短信社交網絡的用戶的短信和傳播實踐卻非常不同。雖然通過印度短信社交網絡平台可以第一次與全印度的人聯結的想法很誘人，其用戶的主要動機卻並非交談、構造“第二人生”、或建立興趣小組，而是利用網絡服務擴展自己的群組成員身份。通過對其用戶資料的量化研究，本文顯示，印度短信社交網絡可以幫助我們思考發展中國家移動社區的有關問題－－尤其是網絡平台從作為“第二人生”到作為金錢“資源”的觀念的變化。
Translated from English by Xin Huang
