full paper at CSCW 2008 conference Paper abstract: Research on social network sites has examined how people integrate offline and online life, but with a particular emphasis on their use by friendship groups. We extend earlier work by examining a case in which offline ties are non-existent, but online ties strong. Our case is a study of bodybuilders, who explore their passion with like-minded offline 'strangers' in tightly integrated online communities. We show that the integration of offline and online life supports passion-centric activities, such as bodybuilding.

1. Being Online, Living Offline: The Influence of Social Ties over the Appropriation of Social Network Sites Bernd Ploderer, Steve Howard, Peter Thomas Department of Information Systems The University of Melbourne

13. Discussion Bernd Ploderer, Steve Howard, Peter Thomas Department of Information Systems The University of Melbourne