Defining Social Technologies: evaluation of social collaboration tools and technologies

Abstract

Abstract: The popularity of social technologies continues to grow in the society. The term social technology is often referred to digital social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. In order to this a redefinition of this concept based on the original definition is needed. Nowadays the concept of social technologies has several aspects which destabilize the dominant status of technology. It emphasizes social sciences and the humanities as society shapers, reconsiders the strength of social dimension in technological sciences. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into the concept of social technologies, to develop its meaning in information and knowledge society by evaluating social collaboration tools and technologiesanalyzing new needs and application forms. Design/methodology/approach The research results have contributed to the knowledge of the concept of social technologies. Based on the analysis of scientific literature and results of empirical research in the Focus group as well as Content analysis, theoretical framework for defining the concept of social technologies was developed. The paper presents effects relation analysis with particular social collaboration tools and technologies. Each tool and technology was evaluated by all positive/negative effects simultaneously by setting hierarchical impact of the effect on a tool or technology. Research limitations/implications The research is limited in a few aspects. To understand the concept of social technologies more deeply and to develop technological perspectives in social sciences a broader theoretical and empirical research is necessary. In order to generalise the research findings, it is recommended that further research includes different dimensions from the perspective of other fields of science.