With so much press focusing on how online social networks and media have changed everyday life in New York and San Francisco, it is easy to forget that everyone, not just city dwellers, can benefit from new technology. Rural communities have been an active part of the booming social media phenomenon in the past few years, but, until recently, their unique characteristics have been largely neglected in the literature.

This paper studies thousands of urban and rural users on MySpace, one of the largest online social networks worldwide. Specifically, Gilbert et al. compare user attributes, such as number of friends, their geographical distribution, interaction among friends (for example, comments), strong/weak ties, and privacy settings. As one would expect, rural users have, in general, fewer online friends and they live closer to the subject. There is also a higher percentage of rural female users compared to their urban counterparts, as “women are the guardians of Internet knowledge in rural communities.” Not surprising, either, is the finding that rural users set their profiles to the private mode more often, showing stronger concerns about online privacy. However, it may seem counter-intuitive that no evidence shows that rural users prefer strong ties more than urban users do--they both maintain about the same percentages of strong and weak ties in social relationships.

This paper is among the first to carry out a serious study of social media use in rural areas. Through convincing real-life data, it confirms several previous hypotheses and questions others. It also brings up interesting discussions, such as how social networks may play a role in a politically divided nation.