Circle Or Network

Drawing lessons from the methods of social network analysis,this study regards We Chat circle of friends as the weak component of a social network.Based on the two operational concepts of "node" and "node relationship",this paper combines Granoviter's theory of strength-weak relationship and Fei Xiaotong's difference sequence pattern theory to study the change of social network of college students based on We Chat.Through the observation and interview of 30 college students,this paper finds that the social network of college students based on We Chat presents new features: the number of nodes in We Chat circle of friends increases,and indegree and out-degree increases,among which college students pay more attention to the role of out-degree.Some strong relationships in offline circle of friends may continue to be enhanced in We Chat,but most of them will be weakened;some weak relationships in We Chat may continue to maintain their original state,but most of them will be enhanced.The transformation of relationships brings the increase of information acquisition of college students.We Chat circle of friends is not a self-centered circle.The moments-sharing owner has the most intersecting relationship with other nodes,and there is no central force in the friends circle.The popular nodes in We Chat circle of friends are limited,and they mainly play a reference role.We Chat circle of friends is an open "network",not a closed "circle".The paper further holds the view that the change of communication structure brought by We Chat circle of friends has the following characteristics: We Chat circle of friends has brought new connection,which is manifested in its triple connection mode.Its emergence and development is the result of an actor network.The characteristics of We Chat circle of friends such as relationship of tangency and intersecting and lack of central force prove that it is a distributed network.The material basis of multiple connection and distributed network serves the needs of young people's communication which constructs a new structure of young people's communication and brings their new communication practice.