Addiction....or a second chance for a ‘third place’?

Abstract

Are we living in isolation? Ray Oldenburg postulates that busy schedules impede people from socializing as much as they should; consequently traditional third places have almost disappeared. However there may be a second chance for a new “Third Place”. Our aim is to explore two questions conceptually. Has Facebook become the new “Third Place”, furthermore is Facebook really a “Third Place”? The theory of the third place is briefly described and this is followed by a description of Facebook. Oldenburg’s nine characteristics that qualify a third place are then applied to this social networking site to show that Facebook can possibly be regarded as a third place. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research conclude this paper.