ABSTRACT
In this chapter I discuss a methodological approach to analyse the quality of social relations that are formed and maintained through the use of digital platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. To achieve this, I rely on the use of hand-drawn network maps – a sketch of individuals' social networks focusing on the perception of digitally mediated social relations. Of particular analytical interest are visual cues (symbols, sketches and shapes) that are present in these maps as they promise to deliver data that uncovers the quality and depth of these relations. The examples I present to illustrate this technique are taken from research on creative professionals' use of online social networking platforms to establish social ties with stakeholders in the field of cultural and creative production. The network maps were key to prompt respondents to verbalise their interpretation of digitally mediated social interaction and the meaning these social ties hold. I argue that creative, arts-based techniques are especially useful to unpack multiple dimensions of novel phenomena such as digitally mediated social interaction as they help elicit in-depth narrative data. In this chapter I draw on the documentary method as an analytical approach to access data inherent in network maps. I critically evaluate this method as a means to tackle novel and potentially under-conceptualised phenomena of digitally mediated social interaction and discuss some of its limitations.
