social media: where we stand, where we’re heading
DESCRIPTION
Guest lecture at Elon University on 10/19/12 in COM 371, The Future of the Internet, talking about social media research and thoughts on where social media is heading in the coming years.TRANSCRIPT
Social Media: Where We Stand, Where We’re HeadingJessica VitakUniversity of MarylandOctober 19, [email protected] / @jvitak
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What is social media?
Social (adj): relating to human society and its members.
Media (n): storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data.
Takeaways:1. Social media is not a new phenomenon.
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What is social media?Social (adj): relating to human society and its members.
Media (n): storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data.
Takeaways:1. Social media is not a new phenomenon.
2. Social media is facilitated through technology and evolves with technology.
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Social Media Since 2000Key difference:
Publishing (Web 1.0) vs. Participation (Web 2.0)
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Key Feature #1: User-Generated Content
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12Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the WebOctober 12, 2012
Key feature #2 Social bookmarking/Social tagging
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Key Feature #3: Interaction Drives Communities
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Social Network Sites Defined
All SNSs have three main features:
1) A uniquely identifiable profile
2) List of connections (e.g., “Facebook Friends”)
3) Users can consume, produce, and interact with content
Ellison & boyd (in press)
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Who uses SNSs?
Sour
ce: M
adde
n &
Zic
khur
, 201
1. P
ew In
tern
et P
roje
ct.
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SNS users are more likely to be:
• Women• Young
No statistically significant differences based on:
• Race• Income• Education• Geographic location
Source: Madden & Zickhur, 2011. Pew Internet Project.
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Why do people use SNSs?
Joinson (2008)• Social connection• Shared identities• Viewing/sharing photos• Social investigation• Social network surfing• Status updating
Papacharissi & Mendelson (2011)• Expressive info seeking• Habitual pass time• Relaxing entertainment• Cool, new trend• Companionship• Professional achievement• Escape• Social interaction• Meet new people 20
What SNS users do: “Liking”
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What SNS users do: Commenting
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What SNS users do: Broadcasting
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What SNS users do: Private Messages
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Impression Management on SNSs
Impression Management: Sum of behaviors individuals engage in to either control or manipulate observers’ attributions of them
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Negative effects of SNSs
Interactions on these sites are real.• USATODAY: Political spats on Facebook spill into real life
Assuming privacy is always a bad idea.• Eagles’ employee loses job after badmouthing team
decision on his Facebook page.• Bank intern fired after calling in sick & getting caught
through Facebook pictures.
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Benefits to Using SNSs
Social Capital: original “friends with benefits” benefits derived from interactions with your social
network
BondingBridging
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Bridging Social Capital
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Bonding Social Capital
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Recent ResearchDoes use of Facebook for political purposes have any tangible impact on participation?
Vitak et al. (2011)
• Study of undergrads use of Facebook in month prior to 2008 presidential election
• Those who were highly engaged in political activity on FB were highly engaged elsewhere
• Those who reported seeing their Friends post political content were more likely to be politically active 30
Recent Research
Positive Collaboration• Arrange group meeting• Ask for help• Manage group project
Negative Collaboration• Sharing homework answers• Sharing quiz/test answers
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How do students use Facebook to collaborate on school work?Lampe et al. (2011)
Recent Research
Example: Inigral’s Schools application
College Friends on Facebook
Facebook Collaboration
Behaviors
Bonding Social
Capital
Social Adjustment to College
Persistence at College
+
+
+
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Can Facebook help improve college adjustment and retention?Gray et al. (2012)
Research at MSU
• Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe (2011)• Actual friends matter more than
total friends when it comes to perceptions of social capital
Total FB Friends
Actual Friends
Among undergrads: 25%Among MSU staff: 37%
Tong et al. (2008): When you have too many “friends” on a SNS, people rate you as less socially attractive
How
muc
h I l
ike
you
# of FB Friends
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What does it mean to be a Facebook “Friend”?
• Robin Dunbar claims you can only manage meaningful relationships with 150 people.
Dunbar: “Our minds are not designed to allow us to have more than a very limited number of people in our social world. The emotional and psychological investments that a close relationship requires are considerable, and the emotional capital we have available is limited.” 34
Facebook users have *a lot* of Friends
• Vitak (2012): Most users reported having many Facebook Friends• M = 500, Median = 433, SD = 361,
range: 62 – 1600• And many were weak ties• 8% of network considered close ties• 52% of network considered very weak
ties
Weak Ties
3rd Tier
2nd TierSt
rong
Tie
s
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Pew data: SNS users vs. non-users
• How big is your social network?• Average American: 634 ties• Average Internet user (669) vs.
non-user (506) ties• Average cell phone user: 664 ties• Average SNS user: 636 ties
* Source: Hampton et al. (2011)
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SNSs & Context Collapse
Selective Self-Presentation: We present different versions of the self depending on our audience
Context collapse occurs when we “perform” for different audiences at same time (e.g., weddings)
Ego
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Context Collapse on Facebook
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Impact of Context Collapse
Marwick & boyd (2011)• Treat public space (Twitter) as if it were bounded
Vitak, Lampe, Gray, & Ellison (2012) • Strategies for maintaining work/personal life boundary
Vitak (2012)• Engaging with privacy features• Increased disclosures• Increased perceptions of social capital
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Future of Social Media?Depends largely on how companies handle users current concerns.
When using Facebook, users are most concerned about:*1. Personal information being sold to other companies for marketing
purposes.2. Their account being compromised (e.g., their ID & password
posted online).3. Personal information like a phone number or email address
becoming publicly visible.4. Someone hacking their account & being unable to access it.5. Private messages becoming publicly visible.
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* This is based on a new dataset that is still being collected, so any statements based on this are purely speculative.
Future of Social Media?Social relationships will always matter. Period.
What could alter the balance is trust.
41These companies focus on CONTROL OF INFORMATION.
What they don’t have is the embedded networks that Facebook does.
Thanks!
Jessica VitakUniversity of Maryland
iSchool Page: http://ischool.umd.edu/faculty-staff/jessica-vitakEmail: [email protected]
Twitter: @jvitakHomepage: http://jessicavitak.com
Academia: http://umd.academia.edu/JessicaVitakGoogle Citations Page:
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RC9bN7kAAAAJ&hl=en
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